Peter Acland

Brigadier Peter Bevil Edward Acland, OBE, MC, TD, DL, JP, OStJ (9 July 1902 – 1993) was a British soldier.

Background

He was the younger son of Alfred Dyke Acland and his wife Beatrice, daughter of William Henry Smith and his wife Emily Danvers Smith, 1st Viscountess Hambleden.^[1] Acland was educated at Eton College and subsequently Christ Church, Oxford.^[2] In 1932, he was invested an Officer of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem.^[3]

Career

Acland joined the Sudan Political Service in 1924^[4] and was decorated with the Order of the Nile in 1936.^[5] During the Second World War, he served in the Sudan Defence Force,^[4] was wounded and honoured with a Military Cross in 1941.^[6] He was stationed in Abyssinia and fought in the Western Desert.^[2] Acland was then transferred to the Aegean Islands, where he was wounded and mentioned in despatches, receiving the Greek War Cross.^[2]

After the war, he was chief administrator first of the Dodecanese, then of the Cyrenaica until 1946,^[7] for which he was awarded an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the King's Birthday Honours.^[8] Three years later, he received the Territorial Decoration.^[9] Acland was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in 1947,^[10] commanding the 296 Field Regiment, Royal Devon Yeomanry the next four years until 1951, when he was granted the rank of honorary brigadier.^[11] He became colonel in 1954^[12] and retired from active service in 1961.^[13]

In 1952, Acland was appointed honorary colonel of a Territorial Army Unit^[14] and subsequently in 1967 of The Devonshire Territorials until the following year.^[15] He was nominated High Sheriff of Devon in 1961,^[16] representing the county also as Justice of the Peace.^[17] Having been already Deputy Lieutenant from 1948,^[18] Acland served as Vice Lord Lieutenant of Devon from 1962 until 1978.^[19]

Family

On 7 July 1927, he married Bridget Susan Barnett, daughter of Reverend Herbert Barnett, and had by her two sons.^[17] The older John was a major-general in the British Army, while the younger Antony was a diplomat.^[20]

References

1. Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1929). Armorial Families. vol. I. London: Hurst & Blackett. p. 6.
2. Who is Who 1963. London: Adam & Charles Black Ltd. 1963. p. 12.
3. The London Gazette: no. 33838. p. 4110. 24 June 1932. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
4. Bell, Gawain (1983). Shadows on the Sand: The Memoirs of Sir Gawain Bell. C. Hurst & Co. p. 48. ISBN 0-905838-92-0.
5. The London Gazette: no. 34312. p. 5157. 7 August 1936. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
6. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 35269. p. 5207. 9 September 1941. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
7. Henige, David P. (1970). Colonial Governors from the Fifteenth Century to the Present. University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 198–201.
8. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 37598. p. 2769. 4 June 1946. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
9. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 38654. p. 6328. 1 July 1949. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
10. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 38089. p. 4693. 3 October 1947. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
11. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 39623. p. 4373. 12 September 1952. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
12. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 40314. p. 6191. 29 October 1954. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
13. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 42359. p. 3849. 19 May 1961. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
14. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 39631. p. 4536. 26 September 1952. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
15. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 44335. p. 6328. 2 June 1967. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
16. "University of Exeter - High Sheriffs of Devon since 1832" (PDF). Retrieved 14 August 2009.
17. "ThePeerage - Peter Bevil Edward Acland". Retrieved 11 December 2006.
18. The London Gazette: no. 38471. p. 6304. 3 December 1948. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
19. "Will - Peter Bevil Edward Acland". The Independent. 27 March 1993. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
20. "Obituary - John Hugh Bevil Acland". The Telegraph. 5 December 2006. Retrieved 14 August 2009.

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