Alfred Dyke Acland

Who was Alfred Dyke Acland?

Colonel Alfred Dyke Acland CBE KJStJ JP was a distinguished British Army officer.

The son of Sir Henry Wentworth Acland by his marriage to Sarah Cotton, Acland was educated at Temple Grove School and Charterhouse, before being commissioned into the Royal Devon Yeomanry. He was promoted Major on 10 February 1902, and reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1910 when he took up command of the Royal Devon Yeomanry. In 1915, during the First World War, he was appointed to command the Base Depot Remounts and was decorated with the Croix de Guerre. In 1917, Acland became Assistant Director of Labour and in 1918 was appointed the Labour Commandant of the Australian Corps.

He was invested as a Knight of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem and as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1920. He was further a Justice of Peace for Devon.

On 30 July 1885, he married Beatrice Danvers Smith, daughter of W. H. Smith of the bookselling dynasty. They had five children:

Angela Cicely Mary Acland

Katharine Acland

Sarah Beatrice Acland

Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur William Acland