Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 7th Baronet (1723–1785), with one of his favorite staghounds, painted in 1767 by Sir
Joshua Reynolds, two identical versions of which exist both in the collection of the
National Trust, at
Killerton House and
Saltram House, DevonArms of Acland: Chequy argent and sable, a fesse gules
He was the eldest son and heir of
Sir Hugh Acland, 6th Baronet (1697–1728) of
Killerton in Devon, by his wife Cicely Wroth, eldest daughter and eventual sole heiress of
Sir Thomas Wroth, 3rd Baronet (1674–1721), MP, of
Petherton Park, 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 origin, originated at the estate of
Acland in the parish of
Landkey in North Devon, where it is first recorded in 1155.[3]
On 7 January 1745 he married Elizabeth Dyke (d.1753),[4] daughter and heiress of Thomas Dyke of
Tetton,
Holnicote, and
Pixton in Somerset.[5] Thomas Dyke was a prominent Westcountry staghunter, and kept his own pack of hounds,[6] the earliest recorded precursor of the present
Devon and Somerset Staghounds, 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:
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
^Lauder, Rosemary, Devon Families, Tiverton, 2002, p.12, Acland of Columb John
^Lauder, Rosemary, Devon Families, Tiverton, 2002, p.12, Acland of Columb John
^Acland, Anne. A Devon Family: The Story of the Aclands. London and Chichester: Phillimore, 1981, pp.1-2
^Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.5, pedigree of Acland
^Lauder, Rosemary, Devon Families, Tiverton, 2002, p.12, Acland of Columb John
^Lysons, Magna Britannia, Vol 6: Devon, 1822, pp.226-231, Gentlemen's seats, forests and deer parks
[1]: "Red deer, ferœ naturœ, the remains of the inhabitants of the royal forest of Exmoor, still abound in sufficient quantities in the Devonshire woods, south of the forest, as well as in those of Somersetshire, to yield sport to the neighbouring nobility and gentry. A stag hunt has been for many years kept up in this vicinity. The hounds were formerly kept by Mr. Dyke, of Somersetshire, whose heiress married Sir Thomas Acland's grandfather, and afterwards by the Aclands. After the death of the late Sir Thomas Acland, they were kept for a while by Mr. Basset. After this, they were kept for several years by Lord Fortescue, at Castlehill, who, about three years ago, made them over to R. Lucas, Esq., of Baronshill, in Somersetshire
^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