John Acland (died 1620)

Sir John Acland (d.1620), detail from his recumbent effigy in Broadclyst Church, Devon
Sir John Acland (d.1620), recumbent effigy in Broadclyst Church, Devon
Arms of Acland: Chequy argent and sable, a fesse gules

Sir John Acland (c.1552 – 1620) of Columb John in the parish of Broadclyst, Devon, was an English knight, landowner, philanthropist, Member of Parliament and Sheriff of Devon. He was one of John Prince's Worthies of Devon.

Origins

He was the second son of John Acland (d.1553), of Acland in the parish of Landkey, Devon, by his wife Mary Redcliff, daughter and co-heiress of Hugh Redcliff of Stepney near London. He is said by Prince (c.1697) to have been the favourite son of his mother, who thus made him heir to her lands in and about London.[1] His elder brother was Hugh Acland (d.1622), who inherited the paternal estate of Acland, which he modernised in 1591[2] as attested by a surviving date stone,[3] where he remained throughout his life.[4]

Career

He was appointed to the county bench as a Justice of the Peace in 1583 and was Sheriff of Devon for 1608–09. He was elected Member of Parliament firstly for Saltash, in 1586.[5] He was knighted by King James I on 15 March 1604 in the Tower of London, and at a by-election on 27 January 1607, in the first parliament of the reign, became MP for Devon.

Marriages & progeny

Sir John Acland married twice, but left no surviving progeny:

Effigy of Elizabeth Rolle, Broadclyst Church

Lands acquired

He purchased the manor of Columb John[18] in the parish of Broadclyst, about 32 miles south-east of Acland, where he re-built the old manor house and its domestic chapel,[19] which he endowed with the annual sum of £25 in eternity "for the encouragement of a chaplain, to preach and read prayers in it every Lord's day".[20]

The nearby manor of Killerton, adjacent to Columb John, was not purchased at this time, but by Sir John's eldest nephew Sir Arthur Acland[21] (d.1610) of Acland,[22] whose son Sir John Acland, 1st Baronet (d.1647) deserted Acland and moved his residence to Columb John. Killerton was first used as a residence for Sir Arthur's widow Eleanor Mallet,[23] (daughter and heiress of Robert Mallet of Woolleigh,[24] whose wife was Elizabeth Rolle who remarried to Sir John Acland (d.1620)). Killerton became the family's chief seat after 1672,[25] when the 1st baronet's fourth son Sir Hugh Acland, 5th Baronet (d.1713) altered and enlarged the house in 1680 and abandoned Columb John,[26] of which all that survives today is the Elizabethan gateway.[27] His descendants later built the surviving Georgian Killerton House.

Death & burial

He died on 14 February 1620,[28] and was buried in Broad Clyst church, where a monument he had commissioned himself,[29] dated 1613,[30] survives in Broadclyst Church, showing the sculpted figures of himself and his wives. Sir John Acland died childless and his heir was his 70-year-old elder brother Hugh Acland (d.1622) of Acland.[31]

Philanthropy

Dining Hall, Exeter College, Oxford, built in 1618,[32] largely financed by Sir John Acland

His charitable gifts were numerous. He settled on the mayor and city council of Exeter the rectorial endowments of two parishes in the South Hams, so that the annual proceeds might be distributed among the poor in Exeter and in other parts of the county. He largely financed a new hall, with cellars underneath, at Exeter College, Oxford, shortly before his death, at a cost of about £800 of the total £1,000 building cost.[33] Two scholarships were also founded by him at the college. He gave money to buy bread for the poor in each of the 27 parishes in which he held land[34] and an inscription to Sir John was erected in Pilton Church, near Acland, which is transcribed in Dean Milles' Questionnaire thus:[35]
"Here Sr John Acland to the poor's a friend,
In giving bread noe times to have an end,
Sixpence a week by him to us is measured,
A crown for him in Heaven's laid up and treasured"

Monument

Monument to Sir John Acland (d.1620), Broadclyst Church

Sir John Acland's monument in Broadclyst Church was described by Pevsner as "one of the most sumptuous Jacobean monuments in Devon and the most splendid of a related group".[36] It was commissioned by Sir John during his lifetime[37] and bears the dates 1613[38] and 1614.[39] He lies recumbent, in full armour, propped up on his right elbow, with his two widows kneeling at prayer at his head and feet.[40] It was probably constructed by John Deymond, an Exeter mason.[41] The Renaissance style[42] comprises columns, strapwork, cartouches, obelisks, fruit and putti[43] It displays the following Latin inscriptions:[44] Anno Domini 1613; Mors janua vitae (Death is the gateway to life) and the well-known Mors mihi lucrum[45] (Death to me is reward); Post tenebras spero lucem (After darkness I hope for light); Caro mea requiescit in spe (May my flesh rest in hope); A Deo omnis victoria (All victory comes from God). A rectangular space above his effigy which should have contained a marble tablet inscribed with his epitaph remains blank, as it was in 1697 when described by John Prince.[46]

Armorials

Heraldic achievement of Sir John Acland (d.1620)

At the top of the monument is a heraldic achievement of Sir John Acland (d.1620), showing an escutcheon quarterly of 6:

Crest above: a man's hand couped at the wrist in a glove lying fessways thereon a falcon perched, all proper (Acland)

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Prince, 1810 ed., p.2
  2. ↑ Acland, Anne, p.5
  3. ↑ Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p.125
  4. ↑ Acland, Anne, p.4
  5. ↑ Mary, Wolffe. "Acland, John". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/63. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  6. ↑ Vivian, p.4
  7. ↑ Prince, p.2 "Woolley", today's "Woolleigh Barton", about 3 miles SE of Great Torrington
  8. ↑ Prince, p.2
  9. ↑ Acland, Anne, p.4
  10. ↑ Prince, p.4 mentions these effigies, "one at the head and one at the feet"
  11. ↑ Vivian, p.4
  12. ↑ Prince, p.2
  13. ↑ Prince, p.2
  14. ↑ Will proved 16 Mar 1603/1604 (Prerogative Court of Canterbury,: 47 Harte, quoted in )
  15. ↑ History of Parliament biog. of Sir John Acland
  16. ↑ Dunning, Robert (1983). A History of Somerset. Chichester: Phillimore & Co. pp. 109–117
  17. ↑ Prince, p.4 mentions these effigies, "one at the head and one at the feet"
  18. ↑ Acland, Anne, p.4
  19. ↑ Acland, Anne, p.4
  20. ↑ Prince, p.3
  21. ↑ Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1810 edition, London, 1810, p.59, purchased from Sir Thomas Drewe; Vivian, p.307, pedigree of Drewe, states "Sir Thomas Drewe...sold Killerton to Sir Arthur Acland, Bart. (sic)"
  22. ↑ Buried in Landkey Church, where his large monument survives
  23. ↑ Acland, Anne, p.6
  24. ↑ Vivian, p.4
  25. ↑ Pevsner, p.518
  26. ↑ Acland, A, p.13
  27. ↑ Hoskins, W.G., A New Survey of England: Devon, London, 1959 (first published 1954), p.352
  28. ↑ Vivian, p.4; "1620" per Acland, Anne, p.5
  29. ↑ Acland, Anne, p.5
  30. ↑ Prince, p.4
  31. ↑ Vivian, p.4
  32. ↑ http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-244919-exeter-college-south-range-main-quadrang
  33. ↑ Prince, p.4
  34. ↑ Acland, A., pp.4–5
  35. ↑ Reproduced in Acland, A., p.5 & footnote 2 to chap. 2
  36. ↑ Pevsner, p.215
  37. ↑ Acland, A., p.5
  38. ↑ Prince, p.5
  39. ↑ Above heraldic achievement, see image
  40. ↑ Acland, A., p.5
  41. ↑ Pevsner, p.215
  42. ↑ Hoskins, p.352
  43. ↑ Pevsner, p.215
  44. ↑ Prince, p.5
  45. ↑ St Paul's Epistle to the Philippians , 1:21
  46. ↑ Prince, p.5
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