[1] He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford,[2] where he graduated with a first class degree in the School of Law and Modern History in 1858.

From 1888 to 1892 Hicks Beach returned to active work as President of the Board of Trade, and in 1895, Goschen being transferred to the Admiralty, he again became Chancellor of the Exchequer.

In 1899 he lowered the fixed charge for the National Debt from twenty-five to twenty-three million, a reduction imperatively required, apart from other reasons, by the difficulties found in redeeming Consols at their then inflated price.

The sale of his Netheravon estates in Wiltshire to the War Office in 1898 occasioned some acrid criticism concerning the valuation, for which, however, Sir Michael himself was not responsible.

His second daughter, Susan Hicks Beach (1878-1965), was the sitter representing Britannia on the reverse of the Edward VII silver florins (two shilling pieces) issued from 1902 to 1910 and designed by George William de Saulles.

Lord St Aldwyn died in April 1916, aged 78, only a week after his son was killed in action in the First World War, and was succeeded in his titles by his grandson Michael, who also became a Conservative politician.