Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 7th Baronet

He was a prominent member of the West Country gentry, and a famous staghunter who used as his hunting seats his wife's Exmoor estates of Pixton and Holnicote.

[2] He was the eldest son and heir of Sir Hugh Acland, 6th Baronet (1697–1728) of Killerton in Devon, by his wife Cicely Wroth, eldest daughter and eventual sole heiress of Sir Thomas Wroth, 3rd Baronet (1674–1721), MP, of Petherton Park, Somerset.

The ancient Acland family, believed to be of Flemish origin, originated at the estate of Acland in the parish of Landkey in North Devon, where it is first recorded in 1155.

[5] Thomas Dyke was a prominent Westcountry staghunter, and kept his own pack of hounds,[6] the earliest recorded precursor of the present Devon and Somerset Staghounds, whose vast hunting terrain covered most of North Devon and Exmoor and the Quantocks in Somerset.

His passion for the sport and his pack of hounds were inherited by his son-in-law.

Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 7th Baronet (1723–1785), with one of his favorite staghounds, painted in 1767 by Sir Joshua Reynolds , two identical versions of which exist both in the collection of the National Trust , at Killerton House and Saltram House , Devon
Arms of Acland: Chequy argent and sable, a fesse gules