Theodore Acland
Encyclopedia
Theodore William Gull Acland ARIC
(7 November 1890 – 13 October 1960) was an English
educationist who in later life became a clergy
man of the Church of England
.
MD
(Oxon.
) FRCP
and of his wife Caroline Cameron Gull. He was the grandson of Sir Henry Acland, 1st Baronet
MD FRS
and of Sir William Gull, 1st Baronet, MD FRS. His great-grandfather, Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 10th Baronet (1787–1871), had been a member of parliament
, one of the Devonshire
Aclands, an old family. Acland had one sister, Aimee Sarah Agnes Dyke Acland, who died in infancy in 1889; otherwise, he was an only child.
He was educated at Gresham's School
, Holt
, King's College, Cambridge
(where he was an exhibitioner), and the University of Berlin. At Cambridge, in 1912 and 1913, he took a First in both parts of the Natural Sciences Tripos, specializing in Chemistry
at Part II. In 1913, he headed the list of Cambridge Firsts awarded in Natural Sciences.
in October 1914, then seconded for technical duties with the Department of Explosives Supplies and in 1915 with the Munitions Inventions Department. From 1920 to 1922 he served on the technical staff of Brunner, Mond & Co., then for a year with Garton & Co. From 1923 to 1930 he was a master at Stowe School
, in Buckinghamshire
, where he became a housemaster in 1924. He was then Headmaster of King Edward VI School, Norwich
, from 1930 to 1943.
Acland was also a member of the Court of Governors, of St Thomas's Hospital, London
, from 1931 to 1948, and of the Grand Committee, from 1945 until his death. He was honorary secretary of the Clergy Widows' Fund for the Diocese of London
, and was Diocesan Officer from 1944 to 1946, member of the Standing Committee of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge from 1946 to 1952, of the Board of Governors of the Federation for Animal Welfare, 1946 to 1951, of the Council of St Katharine’s Training College, Tottenham, 1945 to 1948, of the London Diocesan Conference, 1946 to 1949, of the Central Advisory Council of Training for the Ministry, 1943 to 1953, of the Central Council for Women's Church Work, 1948 to 1953, of the Council of Bishops College, Cheshunt, 1946 to 1959, of the Council of the Missions to Seamen, of the Board of the Church Army
and of the Christian Evidence Society
. He represented St Thomas's Hospital on the governing body of St Olave's and St Saviour's Grammar School
, Orpington
.
He was ordained a deacon
in 1953 and a priest
in 1957 and served as honorary curate
of St Bartholomew, Hyde, Winchester, from 1953 to 1955, and of St Luke, Stanmore, Winchester, from 1955.
, he gave his recreation as 'travelling' and his clubs as the Athenaeum Club
and the Royal Commonwealth Society
. He died on 13 October 1960, at the age of sixty-nine.
Royal Institute of Chemistry
The Royal Institute of Chemistry was a British scientific organisation.Founded in 1877 as the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain, its role was to focus on qualifications and the professional status of chemists, and its aim was to ensure that consulting and analytical chemists were properly...
(7 November 1890 – 13 October 1960) was an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
educationist who in later life became a clergy
Clergy
Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
man of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
.
Background and early life
Acland was the son of Theodore Dyke AclandTheodore Dyke Acland
Theodore Dyke Acland MD, FRCP, FRCS was a British physician, surgeon and author and was the son-in-law of Sir William Gull, a leading London medical practitioner and one of the Physicians-in-Ordinary to HM Queen Victoria...
MD
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
(Oxon.
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
) FRCP
Royal College of Physicians
The Royal College of Physicians of London was founded in 1518 as the College of Physicians by royal charter of King Henry VIII in 1518 - the first medical institution in England to receive a royal charter...
and of his wife Caroline Cameron Gull. He was the grandson of Sir Henry Acland, 1st Baronet
Sir Henry Acland, 1st Baronet
Sir Henry Wentworth Dyke Acland, 1st Baronet, KCB . was an English physician and educator.He was born in Killerton, Exeter, the fourth son of Sir Thomas Acland and Lydia Elizabeth Hoare, and educated at Harrow and at Christ Church, Oxford. He was elected fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, in...
MD FRS
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
and of Sir William Gull, 1st Baronet, MD FRS. His great-grandfather, Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 10th Baronet (1787–1871), had been a member of parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
, one of the Devonshire
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
Aclands, an old family. Acland had one sister, Aimee Sarah Agnes Dyke Acland, who died in infancy in 1889; otherwise, he was an only child.
He was educated at Gresham's School
Gresham's School
Gresham’s School is an independent coeducational boarding school in Holt in North Norfolk, England, a member of the HMC.The school was founded in 1555 by Sir John Gresham as a free grammar school for forty boys, following King Henry VIII's dissolution of the Augustinian priory at Beeston Regis...
, Holt
Holt, Norfolk
Holt is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The town is north of the city of Norwich, west of Cromer and east of King's Lynn. The town is on the route of the A148 King's Lynn to Cromer road. The nearest railway station is in the town of Sheringham where access to the...
, King's College, Cambridge
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college's full name is "The King's College of our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge", but it is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the University....
(where he was an exhibitioner), and the University of Berlin. At Cambridge, in 1912 and 1913, he took a First in both parts of the Natural Sciences Tripos, specializing in Chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
at Part II. In 1913, he headed the list of Cambridge Firsts awarded in Natural Sciences.
Career
Completing his education just as the First World War broke out, Acland was commissioned into the London Electrical Engineers as a second lieutenantSecond Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...
in October 1914, then seconded for technical duties with the Department of Explosives Supplies and in 1915 with the Munitions Inventions Department. From 1920 to 1922 he served on the technical staff of Brunner, Mond & Co., then for a year with Garton & Co. From 1923 to 1930 he was a master at Stowe School
Stowe School
Stowe School is an independent school in Stowe, Buckinghamshire. It was founded on 11 May 1923 by J. F. Roxburgh, initially with 99 male pupils. It is a member of the Rugby Group and Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. The school is also a member of the G20 Schools Group...
, in Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, where he became a housemaster in 1924. He was then Headmaster of King Edward VI School, Norwich
Norwich School (educational institution)
Norwich School is an independent school located in Norwich, United Kingdom. It is one of the oldest schools in the world, with a traceable history to 1096, and is a member of The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.It is a fee-paying, co-educational day school and has one of the best...
, from 1930 to 1943.
Acland was also a member of the Court of Governors, of St Thomas's Hospital, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, from 1931 to 1948, and of the Grand Committee, from 1945 until his death. He was honorary secretary of the Clergy Widows' Fund for the Diocese of London
Diocese of London
The Anglican Diocese of London forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England.Historically the diocese covered a large area north of the Thames and bordered the dioceses of Norwich and Lincoln to the north and west. The present diocese covers and 17 London boroughs, covering most of Greater...
, and was Diocesan Officer from 1944 to 1946, member of the Standing Committee of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge from 1946 to 1952, of the Board of Governors of the Federation for Animal Welfare, 1946 to 1951, of the Council of St Katharine’s Training College, Tottenham, 1945 to 1948, of the London Diocesan Conference, 1946 to 1949, of the Central Advisory Council of Training for the Ministry, 1943 to 1953, of the Central Council for Women's Church Work, 1948 to 1953, of the Council of Bishops College, Cheshunt, 1946 to 1959, of the Council of the Missions to Seamen, of the Board of the Church Army
Church Army
Church Army is an evangelistic Church of England organisation operating in many parts of the Anglican Communion.-History:Church Army was founded in England in 1882 by the Revd Wilson Carlile , who banded together in an orderly army of soldiers, officers, and a few working men and women, whom he and...
and of the Christian Evidence Society
Christian Evidence Society
The Christian Evidence Society is a UK Christian apologetics organisation founded in 1870. At its financial peak it had slightly over 400 paying members, but this declined to below 300 by 1897...
. He represented St Thomas's Hospital on the governing body of St Olave's and St Saviour's Grammar School
St Olave's Grammar School
St Olave's and St Saviour's Grammar School is a super-selective boys' secondary school in Orpington, Greater London, England. The school is consistently one of the top achieving state schools in the UK and it was The Sunday Times State School of the Year in 2008...
, Orpington
Orpington
Orpington is a suburban town and electoral ward in the London Borough of Bromley. It forms the southeastern edge of London's urban sprawl and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...
.
He was ordained a deacon
Deacon
Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...
in 1953 and a priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
in 1957 and served as honorary curate
Curate
A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...
of St Bartholomew, Hyde, Winchester, from 1953 to 1955, and of St Luke, Stanmore, Winchester, from 1955.
Private life
Acland married Mary, the daughter of Robert Maxwell Moffat, on 24 May 1944, but they had no children. In Who's WhoWho's Who (UK)
Who's Who is an annual British publication of biographies which vary in length of about 30,000 living notable Britons.-History:...
, he gave his recreation as 'travelling' and his clubs as the Athenaeum Club
Athenaeum Club, London
The Athenaeum Club, usually just referred to as the Athenaeum, is a notable London club with its Clubhouse located at 107 Pall Mall, London, England, at the corner of Waterloo Place....
and the Royal Commonwealth Society
Royal Commonwealth Society
The Royal Commonwealth Society is an international educational charity and a private members' club. Its mission is to support and promote the modern Commonwealth, its culture and core values...
. He died on 13 October 1960, at the age of sixty-nine.