Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 7th Baronet (14 August 1722 – 24 February 1785) of

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

Petherton Park Petherton Park (also known as North Petherton Park or Newton Park) was a Deer park around North Petherton within the English county of Somerset. The origins are unclear but the area was part of an earlier Royal Forest stretching from the River ...

in Somerset, was

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 of ...

for

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. Devon is ...

, 1746–1747, for

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, 1767–1768, and was

High Sheriff of Somerset The office of High Sheriff of Somerset is an ancient shrievalty which has been in existence since the 11th century. Originally known as the "Sheriff of Somerset", the role was retitled on 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Government A ...

in 1751. He was a prominent member of the

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, Gloucesters ...

gentry, and a famous staghunter who used as his hunting seats his wife's

Exmoor Exmoor is loosely defined as an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England. It is named after the River Exe, the source of which is situated in the centre of the area, two miles north-west of Simonsbath ...

estates of Pixton and Holnicote.

Origins

He was the eldest son and heir of

Sir Hugh Acland, 6th Baronet Sir Hugh Acland, 6th Baronet (26 January 1697 – 29 July 1728) of Killerton Devon was a British landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1721 to 1727. Early life Acland was the eldest son of John Acland of Killerton and his ...

(1697–1728) of

in Devon, by his wife Cicely Wroth, eldest daughter and eventual sole heiress of

Sir Thomas Wroth, 3rd Baronet Sir Thomas Wroth, 3rd Baronet (c.1674-1721) of Petherton Park, Somerset was an English High Sheriff and Member of Parliament. He was born the only surviving son of Sir John Wroth, 2nd Baronet, of Petherton Park. He succeeded his father in 1677 as ...

(1674–1721), MP, of

, Somerset. He succeeded his father as 7th Baronet on the latter's death on 29 July 1728. The ancient Acland family, believed to be of

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

origin, originated at the estate of Acland in the parish of

Landkey Landkey ( kw, Lannke) is a small village in the county of Devon in the south-west of England with a population of 2274, falling to 1,734 at the 2011 census. It is situated from the nearest town of Barnstaple. The village is a major part of ...

in North Devon, where it is first recorded in 1155.

Career

He was

for

, 1746–1747,

for

, 1767–1768, and

for the year 1751.

Marriage and progeny

On 7 January 1745 he married Elizabeth Dyke (d.1753), daughter and heiress of Thomas Dyke of Tetton, Holnicote, and Pixton in Somerset. Thomas Dyke was a prominent Westcountry staghunter, and kept his own pack of hounds, the earliest recorded precursor of the present

Devon and Somerset Staghounds The red deer of Exmoor have been hunted since Norman times, when Exmoor was declared a Royal Forest. Collyns stated the earliest record of a pack of Staghounds on Exmoor was 1598. In 1803, the "North Devon Staghounds" became a subscription pack. ...

, whose vast hunting terrain covered most of North Devon and Exmoor and the Quantocks in Somerset. His passion for the sport and his pack of hounds were inherited by his son-in-law. By his wife Thomas had two sons: * Colonel

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 Diction ...

(1746–1778), eldest son and

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

, who predeceased his father. He was

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

for

Callington Callington ( kw, Kelliwik) is a civil parish and town in east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom about north of Saltash and south of Launceston. Callington parish had a population of 4,783 in 2001, according to the 2001 census. This had inc ...

in Cornwall and fought in the

American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

in 1776. He married Lady Harriet Fox-Strangways (1750–1815), daughter of

Stephen Fox-Strangways, 1st Earl of Ilchester Stephen Fox-Strangways, 1st Earl of Ilchester PC (12 September 1704 – 26 September 1776) was a British peer and Member of Parliament. Origins Fox was the eldest surviving son of Sir Stephen Fox (1627-1716), the first Paymaster of the Forces, ...

. They had a son, Sir John Dyke Acland, 8th Baronet (1778–1785), who on 24 February 1785, at the age of 7, inherited the baronetcy on the death of his grandfather, the 7th Baronet.Acland, 1981, p.37; Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, pedigree of Acland, p.5 Sir John died a few weeks later, aged 7, and the baronetcy passed to his uncle

Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 9th Baronet Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 9th Baronet (18 April 1752 – 17 May 1794) of Killerton in Devon and Holnicote in Somerset, was a prominent landowner and member of the West Country gentry. He was especially noted for his passion for staghunting, ...

. *

(1752–1794), second son, who in 1785 succeeded his 7-year-old nephew, Sir John Dyke Acland, 8th Baronet (1778–1785), in the baronetcy.

Death and succession

On his death in 1785 he was succeeded in the baronetcy by his grandson Sir John Dyke Acland, 8th Baronet (d.1785) son of his eldest son.

References

thePeerage.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Acland, Thomas Dyke, 07th Baronet 1722 births 1785 deaths Thomas Dyke 1722 Baronets in the Baronetage of England British MPs 1741–1747 British MPs 1761–1768 High Sheriffs of Somerset Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Devon