Æneas Mackay

Æneas, Baron Mackay (; 29 November 1838 – 13 November 1909) was a Dutch Anti-Revolutionary politician who served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1888 to 1891. Born into a noble family from Gelderland, he studied law in Utrecht and worked as lawyer and a judge. He was elected into the House of Representatives in 1876, and retained his seat for twelve years before his premiership. In his cabinet, he served as minister of the Interior and minister of Colonial Affairs. After another thirteen years in the House, he became a member of the Council of State, receiving the honorary title Minister of State.

Early life Mackay was born in Nijmegen on 29 November 1839, into a noble family of Scottish origin. His parents were Johan François Hendrik Jacob Ernestus Mackay, a member of the Provincial Council of Gelderland and the brother of the 10th Lord Reay, and his wife Margaretha Clara Françoise van Lynden. At the age of six, he was among the first 116 students of De Klokkenberg, the first particular school in the area, which was established primarily at the hands of his father, despite enduring opposition from the municipal and provincial governments. He received secondary education at the Latin school in Nijmegen.

Mackay moved to Utrecht in 1856 in order to study Roman and Contemporary Law. He left University on 27 November 1862 after defending his dissertation "The exclusion of clergy and ministers of Religion in the Legislature in accordance with art. 91 of the Constitution", after which he settled back in Nijmegen as a lawyer. He became deputy registrar in Arnhem in 1865, deputy prosecutor in Zwolle in 1867, and judge in 1873.

Two years later, after the right won a parliamentary majority in the 1888 general election, Mackay was appointed as formateur, tasked with composing a cabinet. On 20 April, Mackay became Chairman of the Council of Ministers. In his own cabinet, he served as Minister of the Interior. The school struggle was the most important issue for the cabinet. In 1889, the cabinet amended the Lower Education Act, improving the position of particular education. From then on, particular schools would receive subsidy on the same footing as public schools, and a new tax on school fees for municipal schools would allow particular schools to compete with public ones. In 1890, after his budget failed to pass through the Senate, Levinus Wilhelmus Christiaan Keuchenius resigned, and Mackay succeeded him as Minister of Colonial Affairs. A year later, a bill regarding military organisation failed to pass through the House, opposed by many Catholics, and the cabinet resigned on 21 Augustus 1891.

A years after the end of his premiership, Mackay returned to the House of Representatives for Kampen, although he refrained from leading his party in the House. He declined taking part in the cabinet of Abraham Kuyper in 1901. He was elected for another term as Speaker of the House in the same year. He was one of the Anti-Revolutionary to vote against Johannes Tak van Poortvliet's constitutional amendment. After this constitutional amendment caused some Anti-Revolutionaries to split off and found the Christian Historical Union, Mackay left some ambiguity over his alignment. He remained Speaker until 1905, when he chose not to stand for re-election in the general election. In his last years, Mackay was a member of Council of State. He died in The Hague on 13 November 1909, at the age of 70.

Private life Mackay married Elisabeth Wilhelmina, Baroness van Lynden in Nijmegen on 7 July 1869. They had one son, Eric, Baron Mackay, who inherited the Scottish peerage Lord Reay from his great-granduncle.