Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 11th Baronet

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Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 11th Baronet, FRS, JP (25 May 1809 – 29 May 1898) was a British educational reformer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at different times between 1837 and 1886. He started his political career as a Tory, later serving as a Liberal after an eighteen-year gap.

Early life and education
- Born the eldest son of the 10th Baronet, his mother was Lydia Elizabeth Hoare.
- He went to Harrow School and Christ Church, Oxford, where he befriended William Ewart Gladstone and Lord Elgin.
- He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1839.

Parliamentary career
- In 1837 he was elected MP for Somerset West as a Tory. He supported Sir Robert Peel’s free trade policy during the Corn Laws controversy.
- He did not stand in the 1847 election and spent nearly twenty years out of Parliament.
- He returned in 1865 as a Liberal MP for Devonshire North, serving until 1885, and then was elected for Wellington from 1885 to 1886.
- He helped promote education reform, supported church schools, and later backed broader liberal educational initiatives, including the Oxford local examinations system established in 1858.
- He never held a ministerial post but was sworn into the Privy Council in 1883.
- He was defeated in the 1886 election after voting for the First Home Rule Bill in 1885.

Other work and interests
- Acland was active in education and agriculture. He served as a Trustee of the Royal Agricultural Society and helped recruit Augustus Voelcker as a consulting agricultural chemist.
- He was a patron of the arts and a friend of John Ruskin; he admired John Everett Millais.

Military and public service
- He served as a Major in the Royal 1st Devon Yeomanry Cavalry and became Lieutenant-Colonel when the 1st Administrative Battalion, Devonshire Rifle Volunteer Corps, was formed in 1860.
- In 1881 he became the Honorary Colonel of the unit that would become the 3rd Volunteer Battalion, Devonshire Regiment.
- He also served as a Justice of the Peace for Devon and Somerset.

Family life
- He married first Mary Mordaunt in 1841; they had three sons and two daughters before she died in 1851.
- He married second Mary Erskine in 1856; they had no children. She died in 1892.
- He died in 1898 at the age of 89. The baronetcy passed to his eldest son, Thomas, who became the next baronet. His second son, Arthur, later also held the title in 1919 and had a political career.

Legacy
- Acland is remembered for his long involvement in education reform, his support for agricultural advancement, and his correspondence with leading cultural figures of his time.