Lady Harriet Acland

Lady Christian Henrietta Caroline Acland was a British noblewoman and diarist. She accompanied her husband to British North America and became celebrated for her personal courage. She is commemorated on one of the bronze reliefs on second floor of the Saratoga Monument in the State of New York.

Early life

She began life as The Honourable Christian Henrietta Caroline "Harriet" Fox-Strangways, daughter of Stephen Fox-Strangways, and his wife, the former Elizabeth Horner. When her father was raised to his earldom, Harriet became "Lady Harriet Fox-Strangways". She was born in Kilmington, Somerset and baptized in St James's, Piccadilly, London on 16 January 1750. Her second cousin was the British politician Charles James Fox and her family was part of the Whig aristocratic circle.

Marriage and issue

In 1770, at the age of twenty, she married by special licence John Dyke Acland, son of Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 7th Baronet and Elizabeth Dyke. Upon their marriage, Sir Thomas gave the couple two Somerset estates, Pixton in Dulverton and Tetton near Taunton. Lady Harriet and her husband had two children:

Elizabeth "Kitty" Acland ; married Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Carnarvon. Kitty would go on to inherit the Pixton and Tetton estates as Harriet and John's only surviving child, thus taking them out of the Acland family upon her marriage.
Sir John Dyke Acland, 8th Baronet ; inherited the baronetcy at the age of 7 on the death of his paternal grandfather, the 7th Baronet. Sir John died a few weeks later, aged 7, and the baronetcy passed to his uncle Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 9th Baronet.
American War of Independence

During the American War of Independence, Lady Harriet travelled with her husband to the Province of Quebec and the Thirteen Colonies when he commanded the 20th Regiment of Foot. At the time of the Battles of Saratoga, Lady Harriet's husband John was wounded by being shot through both legs and he was captured as a prisoner of war. Lady Harriet—at this point several months pregnant—crossed the Hudson River in a boat, accompanied by her maid, a military chaplain, and John's valet, to join him in captivity and nurse him back to full health. John improved with her careful nursing. The British press, reeling from Britain's defeat in the American War of Independence, lauded her actions as brave and heroic. The next year they returned to England, where Colonel Acland died at Pixton Park, Dulverton near Exmoor on 31 October 1778.
Lady Harriet jointly authored a journal with an anonymous second author, which was later published as The Acland Journal. The journal narrated the military expedition as Lady Harriet and her husband's company sailed from Britain and landed in Canada, ending shortly after John was captured. One of the final entries of the journal describes how "the writer of this Journal was sent with a Flag of Truce into the Enemies Camp", describing when Lady Harriet and her party joined John in captivity.
A 1784 engraving by Robert Pollard depicting Lady Harriet Acland on the Hudson River is inscribed as follows:

Widowhood and death

During the long period of her widowhood, 1778–1815, Lady Harriet remained at Pixton Park, building the lane now known as Lady Harriet Acland's Drive to connect to where her daughter, Elizabeth, the Countess of Carnarvon, lived near Wiveliscombe.
In 1799, Lady Harriet sold her property Charlton House, at Creech St. Michael, Somerset, to the Coombe family.
Lady Harriet rebuilt Tetton House in Somerset, where she died, aged 65.

Additional sources

Acland, Lady Harriet. The Acland Journal: Lady Harriet Acland and the American Revolution. Winchester, England: Hampshire County Council, 1993.
Young Folks Cyclopedia, 1882

Category:1750 births
Category:1815 deaths
Category:18th-century English diarists
Category:18th-century English women writers
Category:19th-century British nobility
Category:19th-century British women writers
Category:People from Taunton
Category:Daughters of British earls
Harriet
Harriet
Category:British women diarists
Category:18th-century British writers
Category:British people of the American Revolution
Category:Women in the American Revolution
Category:Writers from Somerset
Category:Writers from Wiltshire