Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 11th Baronet
Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 11th Baronet, FRS (25 May 1809 – 29 May 1898) was a British educational reformer and a politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1837 to 1886 initially as a Tory and later, after an eighteen-year gap, as a Liberal.[1]
Acland was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 10th Baronet, and his wife Lydia Elizabeth Hoare, daughter of Henry Hoare, a partner in the banking firm of C. Hoare & Co. Sir Henry Wentworth Acland was his younger brother. He was educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford, where he was friends with William Ewart Gladstone and Lord Elgin among others. He was a major in the Royal 1st Devonshire Yeomanry Cavalry.[2] In 1839 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society.[3]
In 1837, Acland entered Parliament for Somerset West as a Tory.[4] During the tensions within the Tory party in the 1840s over the Corn Laws, Acland supported Sir Robert Peel's free trade policy. He did not stand for Parliament in the 1847 general election[5] and was to remain out of the House of Commons for nearly twenty years.
Acland showed a strong interest in and commitment to educational reform. He initially promoted the maintenance and defence of church schools and the establishment of diocesan theological colleges. However, he later became a supporter of educational projects of a more Liberal character and played a leading role in the establishment of the Oxford local examinations system in 1858. He was also involved in agricultural issues and was a Trustee of the Royal Agricultural Society. Acland was influential on recruiting Augustus Voelcker as consultant agricultural chemist to the Royal Bath and West of England Society around 1849.[6] Acland was also Honorary Colonel 3rd Volunteer Bn Devonshire Regiment and a J.P. for Devon and Somerset.[2] He contested Birmingham as a moderate Liberal in 1859, but was defeated by John Bright.[7]
In 1865, Acland returned to the House of Commons as a Liberal when he was elected as one of two representatives for Devonshire North.[8] Between 1869 and 1874, he served as a Church Estates Commissioner. He never held ministerial office but was sworn of the Privy Council in 1883. The Devonshire North constituency was abolished by the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885 and Acland was instead returned to Parliament for Wellington.[9] He voted for the First Home Rule Bill in June 1885 and this led to him being defeated at the 1886 general election.[citation needed]
Apart from his public career Acland was also a patron of art. He was a friend of John Ruskin and an early admirer of John Everett Millais.
Acland married firstly Mary Mordaunt, daughter of Sir Charles Mordaunt, 8th Baronet, in 1841. They had three sons and two daughters. After her death in 1851 he married secondly Mary Erskine, only surviving child of John Erskine, in 1856. This marriage was childless. Lady Acland died in May 1892. Acland survived her by six years and died in May 1898, aged 89. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son Thomas, who was also a politician. Acland's second son Arthur, who succeeded in the baronetcy in 1919, also had a successful political career.[1]
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chambers Biographical Dictionary, ISBN 0-550-18022-2, page 6.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Debretts Guide to the House of Commons, 1886. Archive.org.
- ↑ List of Fellows of the Royal Society, A–J, Royal Society.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Craig, op. cit.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Craig, op. cit., page 47.
- ↑ Craig, op. cit., page 376.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
References
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- Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,[page needed]
- Leigh Rayment's list of baronets [self-published source][better source needed]
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[unreliable source?]
External links
Wikisource has original works written by or about: Thomas Dyke Acland, 11th Baronet |
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Sir Thomas Acland
- Archival material relating to Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 11th Baronet listed at the UK National Archives
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Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Somerset West 1837–1847 With: Edward Ayshford Sanford 1837–1841 Francis Henry Dickinson 1841–1847 |
Succeeded by Charles Aaron Moody Alexander Hood |
Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Devonshire North 1865–1885 With: Charles Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis 1865–1866 Sir Stafford Northcote 1866–1885 John Curzon Moore-Stevens 1885 |
Constituency abolished |
New title | Member of Parliament for Wellington 1885–1886 |
Succeeded by Charles Isaac Elton |
Baronetage of England | ||
Preceded by | Baronet (of St Columb John) 1871–1898 |
Succeeded by Charles Thomas Dyke Acland |
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- 1809 births
- 1898 deaths
- Acland family
- People educated at Harrow School
- Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford
- Baronets in the Baronetage of England
- Fellows of the Royal Society
- Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
- UK MPs 1837–41
- UK MPs 1841–47
- UK MPs 1865–68
- UK MPs 1868–74
- UK MPs 1874–80
- UK MPs 1880–85
- UK MPs 1885–86
- Conservative Party (UK) MPs
- Liberal Party (UK) MPs
- Royal 1st Devon Yeomanry officers