Sir Richard Thomas Dyke Acland, 15th Baronet (26 November 1906 – 24 November 1990) was one of the founding members of the British

Common Wealth Party The Common Wealth Party (CW) was a socialist political party in the United Kingdom with parliamentary representation from the middle of the Second World War until the year after its end. Thereafter it continued in being, essentially as a p ...

in 1942, having previously been a Liberal

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP). He joined the Labour Party in 1945 and was later a Labour MP. He was one of the founders of the

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nuc ...

(CND).

First years

Richard Thomas Dyke Acland was born on 26 November 1906 at

Broadclyst Broadclyst is a village and civil parish in the East Devon local government district. It lies approximately 5 miles northeast of the city of Exeter, Devon, England, on the B3181. In 2001 its population was 2,830, reducing at the 2011 Census to 1 ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

, the eldest son of Sir

Francis Dyke Acland Sir Francis Dyke Acland, 14th Baronet, (7 March 1874 – 9 June 1939) was a British Liberal politician. He notably served as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs under Sir Edward Grey between 1911 and 1915. Ideologically, he was an a ...

(1874-1939), 14th Baronet, a Liberal

(MP) and his first wife Eleanor Acland, née Cropper (1878-1933), a Liberal politician, suffragist, and novelist.Stenton and Lees ''Who's Who of British Members of Parliament'' vol. iv p. 1 He had two brothers and one sister, and his brother Geoffrey Acland, was also a Liberal politician. He was educated at

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. ...

and

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the ...

, before qualifying as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and givin ...

(admitted at the Inner Temple in 1930). He briefly served in peacetime as a lieutenant in the 96th (Royal Devon Yeomanry) Field Brigade, RA. Acland stood unsuccessfully for

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

as potential MP for

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paig ...

at the 1929 general election. He was elected Liberal MP for

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool and won great wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, bu ...

at the 1935 election, having first contested the seat in the

1931 general election Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – ...

. He was a junior

whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally ...

for the Liberals. He helped launch the

Popular Front A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault". More generally, it is "a coalition ...

in December 1936. His politics changed course subsequently, as seen in the various political

pamphlet A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a hard cover or binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' or it may consist of a ...

s he wrote. On 15 April 1936, he married Anne Stella Alford, an architect, and together they had four sons, including

John Dyke Acland Colonel John Dyke Acland (18 February 1746 – 31 October 1778), of Tetton and Pixton in Somerset, was Tory Member of Parliament for Callington in Cornwall and fought in the American War of Independence in 1776.Chambers Biographical Dictiona ...

and Robert D. Acland. He succeeded his father as

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...

in 1939.

Common Wealth Party

In 1942, Acland broke from the Liberals to found the socialist

with J. B. Priestley and

Tom Wintringham Thomas Henry Wintringham (15 May 1898 – 16 August 1949) was a British soldier, military historian, journalist, poet, Marxist, politician and author. He was a supporter of the Home Guard during the Second World War and was one of the founder ...

, opposing the coalition between the major parties. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, the new party showed signs of a breakthrough, especially in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wir ...

, winning three by-elections. However, the 1945 general election was a severe disappointment. Only one Member of Parliament, Ernest Millington, was elected, and other figures left, some joining the Labour Party. Acland himself failed to win

Putney Putney () is a district of southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ancient paris ...

, where he came third.

Labour MP

Acland joined Labour and was selected to fight the

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Rochester, it is ...

seat following the expulsion of the Labour member of parliament

Garry Allighan Ernest George Allighan (16 February 1895 – 1977) was a British journalist and Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP). Background He was born with the surname Alligan and added the 'h' because he believed that it would make it seem more Iris ...

from the party for making allegations of corruption. He won the Gravesend by-election of November 1947 with a majority of 1,675. Back in Parliament, Acland served as Second Church Estates Commissioner 1950–51. In 1955, he resigned from Labour in protest against the party's support for the Conservative government's nuclear defence policy, and lost Gravesend standing as an independent the same year, allowing the Conservatives to take the seat, denying it to the new Labour candidate,

Victor Mishcon Victor Mishcon, Baron Mishcon, QC, DL (14 August 1915 – 27 January 2006) was a leading British solicitor and a Labour politician. His firm acted for Diana, Princess of Wales in her divorce. The Mishcon Lectures were established at Unive ...

Later career

As an advocate of public land ownership, Acland felt it impossible to reconcile his possession of the Acland estates with his politics; in 1944 he sold his

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glouc ...

estates at

Killerton Killerton is an 18th-century house in Broadclyst, Exeter, Devon, England, which, with its hillside garden and estate, has been owned by the National Trust since 1944 and is open to the public. The National Trust displays the house as a comfortab ...

in Devon and Holnicote in Somerset to the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

for £134,000 (2011 equivalent £13.5 million), partly out of principle and also to ensure their preservation intact. This decision to relinquish the Acland property led to disagreements with his wife and the possibility of separation, but they eventually reconciled; Anne Acland, before depositing her letters, destroyed all those relating to this period of disagreement, between mid-summer 1942 and January 1943. Corresponding with the National Trust, Acland said: "I am not giving you all my property. I am keeping some of it to live on, some of it to buy a house, and some of it I am giving to Common Wealth. With what is left I pay off as much of the debts as possible hese being £21,000 death duties on his father's estate, and £11,000 accumulated debt, equivalent to circa £3 million in 2011 and then hand over the rest to you, leaving you, I regret to say, to look after what is left of the debts." The terms of this deal were kept secret; "in widespread publicity from which the National Trust and the Aclands emerged glowing with virtue, the entire transaction was portrayed as a gift" and "the Aclands held on to... eighteenth-century family plates and dishes, portraits and landscapes, a group of family miniatures, an early nineteenth-century piano... they were able to buy a nice house in Hampstead at 66 Frognal Street; there was to be an education fund for the boys; and Common Wealth received about £65,000, allowing it to win two more by-elections." Additionally, Acland retained some feudal rights, including the gift of the living at the parish church, and entitlement to shooting ("to be arranged as to suit the convenience of the shooting tenants") and fishing (with one rod on the

Nutscale Reservoir Nutscale Reservoir is a reservoir located in Exmoor in north west Somerset, England. It supplies the town of Minehead and nearby Porlock and Porlock Weir. The reservoir is part of the River Horner catchment area, and is dammed. Nutscale Reservoir ...

). Acland's sons were in later years displeased with the sale of the estates; the heir, John, left a 1994 document at Devon Record Office outlining "how he had made many requests that his mother 'should explain to me why the Killerton and Holnicote estates had been given (sic) to the National Trust in the 1940s'... John found on reading he letters between his mother and fatherthat she had destroyed all the documents from the critical period at the end of 1942... His note continued: 'Anne only talked to me once, in 1989, about the gift (sic) of the estates... her principal contention was that she and Richard had been in complete agreement at every stage.' Perhaps all this secrecy, the denial of the story, was an attempt by Anne and Richard to protect themselves from the rage of their children."Gentry, Adam Nicolson, Harper Press, 2011, Part VI The After-Life 1910-2010, 1890s-1950s The Aclands, ''Killerton, Devon and Holnicote, Somerset'', p. 383 Soon after leaving parliament he took a job as a maths master at Wandsworth Grammar School in Sutherland Grove, new Southfields, London, with effect from September 1955. In 1957 he helped to form the

(CND), and was a senior lecturer in education at St. Luke's College of Education, Exeter, between 1959 and his retirement in 1974. Acland died in

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

in 1990, at the age of 83.

Writings

Acland's book, ''Unser Kampf'', published by Penguin in 1940, containing ideas inspired by a Christian-based moral view of society. It proved immensely popular, going through 5 impressions in six months. His later works, ''The Forward March'' (1941) and ''How it can be done'' (1943) elaborated on these themes. He advocated common ownership, citing the work of

Conrad Noel Conrad le Despenser Roden Noel (12 July 1869 – 22 July 1942) was an English priest of the Church of England. Known as the 'Red Vicar' of Thaxted, he was a prominent Christian socialist. Early life Noel was born on 12 July 1869 in Royal Cottage, ...

as well as the Bible to support his views.

Key publications

*''Unser Kampf'' (Our Struggle), Penguin Books, 1940 *''The Forward March'', Allen & Unwin, 1941 *''What It Will Be Like in the New Britain'', Victor Gollancz, 1942 *''How It Can Be Done'', MacDonald, 1943

References

Bibliography

* *
The Acland Papers at the University of Exeter
* Becher, P., Becker, K. (2022). ''Antifaschismus, Demokratie und Gemeineigentum in Großbritannien. Richard Acland und die Vor- und Nachgeschichte des 'Spirit of '45, in '' Arbeit - Bewegung - Geschichte'', volume xxi, no. 2, pp. 95-116. * Stenton, M., Lees, S. (1981). ''Who's Who of British Members of Parliament'', volume iv (covering 1945–1979). Sussex: The Harvester Press; New Jersey: Humanities Press. * Neil Stockley, ''Richard Acland'' in Brack & Randall (eds.) ''Dictionary of Liberal Thought'', Politico's 2007, pp3–5

External links

* * * History of St Luke's, Exete
Graduate School of Education :: Page Not Found
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Acland, Richard, 15th Baronet 1906 births 1990 deaths Military personnel from Devon Royal Artillery officers Richard Thomas Dyke 1906 People from East Devon District People educated at Rugby School Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Academics of the University of Exeter Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Common Wealth Party MPs Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Baronets in the Baronetage of England English Anglicans UK MPs 1935–1945 UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament activists Royal Devon Yeomanry officers Church Estates Commissioners Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Barnstaple Members of the Inner Temple Common Wealth Party