Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol I (1901).djvu/72

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Acland
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Acland

remained convinced of the soundness of his Irish analogy and the general utility of his policy. On this ground he opposed the union of Upper and Lower Canada, and criticised the terms of the bill sharply in all its stages through the House of Lords (1839–40). Thenceforth he devoted his attention to his estates, to the development of the linen industry in Ireland, and the promotion there of agriculture generally. He exercised, besides the lord-lieutenancy, the functions of vice-admiral of the coast of the province of Ulster. He died at his residence, Market Hill, on 27 March 1849.

On 20 July 1805 he married Mary (d 30 June 1841), only daughter of Robert Sparrow of Worlingham Hall in Beccles, Suffolk. By her he had a son, Archibald, third earl of Gosford (1806–1864), and four daughters, of whom Millicent married Henry Bence Jones [q. v.]

[G. E. C[okayne]'s Complete Peerage, iv. 61; Foster's Peerage of the Brit. Emp. p. 305; Haydn's Book of Dignities (see index, ‘Gosford’); Lodge's Peer. of Ireland, vi. 81; Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. ix. 344, x. 99; Gent. Mag. xxxi. 537; Official Return of Members of Parl. 1878, pt. ii. (index, ‘Acheson’); Ross's Cornwallis Corresp. iii. 319; Parl. Debates, 1835, xxvii. 1071–1112, 3rd ser. xlix. 882, lv. 246–7; Col. Official List, 1899, p. 10; Lecky's Hist. of Ireland, v. 294; Parl. Papers, 1836 xxxix. 1–172, 1837 xxxiv. 1; Ann. Register, Chron. 1836 pp. 301–15, 1837 p. 299, 1838 p. 317; Brymner's Can. Archives, 1883, pp. 160–4; Globensky's La Rebellion de 1837–8, passim; David's Les Patriotes de 1837–8, passim; Garneau's Hist. du Can. iii. 311–50; Bibaud's Hist. du Can. ii. 413–8; Greville's Memoirs, iii. 113, 256, 271–2, 276–8; Edinburgh Review, cxxxiii. 319–20; Sanders's Lord Melbourne's Papers, pp. 334–6, 349–50; Leader's Life of Roebuck, p. 66; Walpole's Hist. of England, iv. 110–30; Christie's Hist. of Lower Can. vol. iv. passim; Read's Canadian Rebellion, ch. ix. and x.; Kingsford's Hist. of Can. ix. 586–634, x. 1–104.]

T. B. B.

ACLAND, Sir HENRY WENTWORTH (1815–1900), physician, fourth son of Sir Thomas Dyke Acland [q. v.], was born at Killerton, Exeter, on 23 Aug. 1816. Sir Thomas Dyke Acland [q. v. Suppl.] was his elder brother. Henry was educated first by Mr. Fisher, a private tutor, to whom he owed much, and afterwards at Harrow School, which he entered between August 1828 and April 1829; he was placed in Mr. Phelps's house, where, without achieving any special distinction, he became a monitor, a member of the football eleven, and a racquet player. He left school at Easter 1832, but did not matriculate at Christ Church, Oxford, until 23 Oct. 1834, and graduated B.A. in 1840, M.A. 1842, M.B. in 1846, and M.D. in 1848. At Christ Church he made the acquaintance of John Ruskin, his junior by four years, while both were undergraduates. Acland was by nature of an artistic, enthusiastic, and romantic temperament, which strongly appealed to Ruskin, and the two men became lifelong friends. In 1838, being in delicate health, Acland spent nearly two years out of England, for the most part cruising in the Mediterranean as a guest on board H.M.S. Pembroke. While there he visited the eastern shores of the Levant to study the site of the ancient city of Pergamos, and to explore the banks of the Simois and Scamander. One of the results of his 'three visits to the Troad was an account of the plains of Troy, with a panoramic drawing, which was published by James Wyatt at Oxford in 1839. He also made careful drawings of the sites of the seven churches of Asia mentioned by St. Paul.

In 1840 Acland was elected fellow of All Souls' College, Oxford, and in the same year, following the wish of his father, he commenced the study of medicine, entering himself, by the advice of Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie [q. v.], at St. George's Hospital, London. During 1842 he worked hard at microscopy with John Thomas Quekett [q. v.], and attended the lectures of (Sir) Richard Owen [q. v.] upon comparative anatomy. In 1843 he migrated to Edinburgh, where he lived with William Pulteney Alison (1790–1859), the university professor of medicine. In 1844 he gained the gold medal given in the class of medical jurisprudence for the best essay on 'Feigned Insanity.' In 1845 he returned to Oxford on being appointed Lee's reader of anatomy at Christ Church, Oxford. That position he held until 1858. It was while Lee's reader that he began, under the inspiration of Alison and Goodsir, to form at Christ Church an anatomical and physiological series on the plan of the Hunterian Museum in London, then under the care and exposition of Richard Owen. In 1846 he was admitted a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians of London, being elected a fellow of the college in 1850, and delivering the Harveian oration in 1865, the first occasion on which it was given in English. He served the office of 'conciliarius' in the college during the years 1882-3-4. Meanwhile, in 1847, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society.

Acland's professional position at Oxford grew rapidly in importance and influence. In 1851 he was appointed physician to the