Arthur Acheson, 1st Earl of Gosford

Arthur Acheson, 1st Earl of Gosford ( c. 1744-5 – 14 January 1807), known as The Viscount Gosford between 1790 and 1806, was an Irish peer of Scottish descent and politician.

Arthur Acheson was born c. 1744-5, the eldest son of Archibald Acheson, 1st Viscount Gosford and his wife Mary, youngest daughter of John Richardson. Arthur succeeded to the viscountcy upon the death of his father in 1790. He was subsequently created Earl of Gosford in February 1806. Acheson was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Old Leighlin from 1783 until 1791.

Gosford was governor of County Armagh at the time of the Armagh disturbances of 1795 and denounced the Protestant extremists:

It is no secret that a persecution is now raging in this country… the only crime is… profession of the Roman Catholic faith. Lawless banditti have constituted themselves judges... and the sentence they have denounced... is nothing less than a confiscation of all property, and an immediate banishment.

In 1774, Gosford married Millicent (died 1 November 1825), daughter of Lieutenant-General Edward Pole, who was descended from the Poles of Radbourne Hall in Derbyshire. Their children were:

1. Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford
2. Arthur Acheson, who died young
3. Arthur Pole Acheson, who died young
4. Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Acheson CB, a captain in the Coldstream Guards and customer and collector at the port of Dublin
5. Olivia Acheson (1778-1863), who married on 14 March 1797 Brigadier-General Robert Bernard Sparrow, of Brampton Park, Northamptonshire
6. Mary Acheson (1787–1843), who married on 19 February 1803 Lieutenant-General Lord William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, second son of William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland
7. Millicent Acheson, who married on 12 September 1826 the Rev. J. H. Barber, rector of Aston Sandford, Buckinghamshire, and perpetual curate of St James's Chapel, Brighton.

• Johnston-Liik, E. M. (2006). MPs in Dublin: Companion to History of the Irish Parliament, 1692-1800. Ulster Historical Foundation. p. 66. Retrieved 31 March 2015. 
• "New Irish Peers". The Times. The Times Digital Archive. 13 February 1806. p. 3. 
• Lodge, Edmund (1838). The Genealogy of the Existing British Peerage. Saunders and Otley. p. 216. 
• James Bardon, A History of Ulster: New Updated Edition (Blackstaff Press, 2005, ISBN 0-85640-764-X)
• "Obituary of Remarkable Persons". The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle. 77 (1): 94. 
• Lady Olivia Sparrow
• Debrett's Peerage, 1828 edition, volume II, page 729.