Peter Acland

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Brigadier Acland in 1953.

Brigadier Peter Bevil Edward Acland OBE MC TD JP DL (9 July 1902 – 9 January 1993[1]) was a British Army officer.[2]

Background[edit]

He was the younger son of Alfred Dyke Acland and his wife Beatrice Danvers (née Smith), who was the daughter of William Henry Smith and his wife Emily Danvers Smith, 1st Viscountess Hambleden.[3] Acland was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford.[4] In 1932, he was invested an Officer of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem.[5]

Career[edit]

Acland joined the Sudan Political Service in 1924[6] and was decorated with the Order of the Nile in 1936.[7] During the Second World War, he served in the Sudan Defence Force,[6] was wounded and honoured with a Military Cross in 1941.[8] He was stationed in Abyssinia and fought in the Western Desert.[4] Acland was then transferred to the Aegean Islands, where he was wounded and mentioned in despatches, receiving the Greek War Cross.[4]

After the war, he was chief administrator first of the Dodecanese, then of the Cyrenaica until 1946,[9] for which he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the King's Birthday Honours.[10] Three years later, he received the Territorial Decoration.[11] Acland was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in 1947,[12] commanding the 296 Field Regiment, Royal Devon Yeomanry the next four years until 1951, when he was granted the rank of honorary brigadier.[13] He became colonel in 1954[14] and retired from active service in 1961.[15]

In 1952, Acland was appointed honorary colonel of a Territorial Army Unit[16] and subsequently in 1967 of The Devonshire Territorials until the following year.[17] He was nominated High Sheriff of Devon in 1961,[18] representing the county also as Justice of the Peace.[19] Having been already Deputy Lieutenant from 1948,[20] Acland served as Vice Lord Lieutenant of Devon from 1962 until 1978.[21]

Family[edit]

On 7 July 1927, he married Bridget Susan Barnett, daughter of Reverend Herbert Barnett, and had by her two sons.[19] The older John was a major-general in the British Army, while the younger Antony was a diplomat.[22]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Peter Bevil Edward Acland - National Portrait Gallery". npg.org.uk. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  2. ^ "Peter Bevil Edward Acland (1902-1993)". lafayette.org.uk. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  3. ^ Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1929). Armorial Families. Vol. I. London: Hurst & Blackett. p. 6.
  4. ^ a b c Who is Who 1963. London: Adam & Charles Black Ltd. 1963. p. 12.
  5. ^ "No. 33838". The London Gazette. 24 June 1932. p. 4110.
  6. ^ a b Bell, Gawain (1983). Shadows on the Sand: The Memoirs of Sir Gawain Bell. C. Hurst & Co. p. 48. ISBN 0-905838-92-0.
  7. ^ "No. 34312". The London Gazette. 7 August 1936. p. 5157.
  8. ^ "No. 35269". The London Gazette (Supplement). 9 September 1941. p. 5207.
  9. ^ Henige, David P. (1970). Colonial Governors from the Fifteenth Century to the Present. University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 198–201. ISBN 9780299054403.
  10. ^ "No. 37598". The London Gazette (Supplement). 4 June 1946. p. 2769.
  11. ^ "No. 38654". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 July 1949. p. 6328.
  12. ^ "No. 38089". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 October 1947. p. 4693.
  13. ^ "No. 39623". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 September 1952. p. 4373.
  14. ^ "No. 40314". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 October 1954. p. 6191.
  15. ^ "No. 42359". The London Gazette (Supplement). 19 May 1961. p. 3849.
  16. ^ "No. 39631". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 September 1952. p. 4536.
  17. ^ "No. 44335". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 June 1967. p. 6328.
  18. ^ Pugsley, David. "University of Exeter - High Sheriffs of Devon since 1832" (PDF). Retrieved 14 August 2009.
  19. ^ a b "ThePeerage - Peter Bevil Edward Acland". Retrieved 11 December 2006.
  20. ^ "No. 38471". The London Gazette. 3 December 1948. p. 6304.
  21. ^ "Will - Peter Bevil Edward Acland". The Independent. 27 March 1993. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
  22. ^ "Obituary - John Hugh Bevil Acland". The Telegraph. London. 5 December 2006. Retrieved 14 August 2009.

External links[edit]

Military offices
New regiment Honorary Colonel of The Devonshire Territorials
1967 – 1968
Succeeded by
The Lord Clifford of Cudleigh