Sir Arthur Dyke Acland, 13th Baronet

The Right Honourable Sir Arthur Dyke Acland Bt
Vice-President of the Committee on Education
In office 25 August 1892 – 21 June 1895
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	William Ewart Gladstone The Earl of Rosebery
Preceded by	Sir William Hart Dyke, Bt
Succeeded by	Sir John Eldon Gorst
Personal details
Born	13 October 1847 (1847-10-13) Holnicote, near Porlock, Somerset
Died	9 October 1926 (1926-10-10) (aged 78)
Nationality	British
Political party	Liberal
Spouse	Alice Acland (d. 1935)
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford

Sir Arthur Herbert Dyke Acland, 13th Baronet, PC (13 October 1847 – 9 October 1926) was a Liberal politician and political author. He is best remembered for his involvement with educational issues and served as Vice-President of the Council of Education under William Ewart Gladstone and the Earl of Rosebery between 1892 and 1895.

Background and education

Dyke Acland was born at Holnicote, near Porlock, Somerset, the second son of Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 11th Baronet, and Mary, daughter of Sir Charles Mordaunt, 8th Baronet. Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 12th Baronet, was his elder brother. He was educated at Rugby School and Christ Church, Oxford, and was called to the Bar, Inner Temple, in 1867.

Early career

After receiving his degree, Dyke Acland remained at Oxford and became a lecturer and tutor at Keble College. He became a deacon in the Church of England in 1872 and a priest in 1874. However, to take up a political career, Acland retired from holy orders in 1879. He served in a number of posts at various colleges at Oxford from 1877 to 1885. Most notable, perhaps, was his administration, from 1878 onwards, of the Oxford Extension Lectures, which both furthered his grounding in the education field and brought him into close contact with the industrial classes in the North of England, who would become his political base. In 1886 he served as President of the second day of the Co-operative Congress.

Parliamentary career

The son of one of the wealthiest landowners in England, Dyke Acland was adopted as the Liberal candidate for the industrial constituency of Rotherham. The incongruity of the adoption was increased by the fact that the Yorkshire town was several hundred miles from Acland's home in Devon. Nonetheless, he was easily elected in 1885 and remained Member of Parliament for Rotherham until the end of his political career in 1899.

Upon entering Parliament, Dyke Acland continued to interest himself in the educational field, becoming one of the principal sponsors of the 1889 Welsh Intermediate Education Act, making the County Councils in Wales responsible for education – a reform not introduced in England until 1902. In 1892, William Ewart Gladstone, taking office as Prime Minister for the fourth time appointed Dyke Acland Vice-President of the Council of Education, with a seat in the cabinet. His cabinet status gave him effective control of the educational authorities (The Council President, Lord Kimberley, was a figurehead). He was sworn of the Privy Council at the same time.

Dyke Acland's principal legislative achievements were both enacted in 1893: The Elementary Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act, and the Elementary Education (School Attendance) Act (which made education compulsory up to the age of eleven). The same year, he promulgated the Evening Continuation School Code, which laid the foundation for adult education, and issued Circular 321, which required inspectors to submit a report to the Education Department about the condition of buildings and apparatus in each public elementary school.

Dyke Acland's health was not equal to the tasks he undertook, and he experienced increasing physical and mental difficulties, which continued even after he left office after the Liberals' defeat in the General Election of 1895. Although re-elected himself, he continued to experience difficulties and effectively resigned from Parliament in 1899 by requesting appointment to, and being appointed Steward of the Manor of Northstead, a nominal office of profit under the Crown. At the resulting by-election in February 1899, the Rotherham seat was won by the Liberal candidate William Henry Holland.

Later life and other honours

After his retirement from parliamentary politics, Dyke Acland continued to interest himself in politics, and served on several government commissions. In 1908, he declined a peerage. He worked on revised editions of his Handbook in Outline of the Political History of England (co-authored with Cyril Ransome, father of children's author Arthur Ransome), a longtime standard in the field. Perhaps his most influential work was as chairman of the Forestry Sub-committee of the Reconstruction Committee during World War One whose 1918 report was responsible for the setting up of the Forestry Commission in 1919.

Family

Dyke Acland married Alice Sophia Cunningham, daughter of Reverend Francis Macaulay Cunningham, in 1873. In 1919, at the age of 71, he succeeded his brother as ninth Baronet of Columb-John of the 1644 creation and thirteenth Baronet of Columb-John of the 1678 creation. He died in October 1926, aged 78, and was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son, Francis. Lady Dyke Acland died in July 1935.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Sir Arthur Dyke Acland
• "Archival material relating to Sir Arthur Dyke Acland, 13th Baronet". UK National Archives.