John Acland (died 1620)

Sir John Acland (c. 1552 – 1620) of Columb John in the parish of Broadclyst, Devon, was an English knight, landowner, philanthropist, Member of Parliament and Sheriff of Devon. He was one of John Prince's Worthies of Devon.

He was the second son of John Acland (died 1553), of Acland in the parish of Landkey, Devon, by his wife Mary Redcliff, daughter and co-heiress of Hugh Redcliff of Stepney near London. He is said by Prince (c.1697) to have been the favourite son of his mother, who thus made him heir to her lands in and about London. His elder brother was Hugh Acland (died 1622), who inherited the paternal estate of Acland, which he modernised in 1591 as attested by a surviving date stone, where he remained throughout his life.

Acland was appointed to the county bench as a Justice of the Peace in 1583 and was Sheriff of Devon for 1608–09. He was elected Member of Parliament firstly for Saltash, in 1586. He was knighted by King James I on 15 March 1604 in the Tower of London, and at a by-election on 27 January 1607, in the first parliament of the reign, became MP for Devon.

Acland married twice, but left no surviving children. His first wife was Elizabeth Rolle, a daughter of the wealthy George Rolle, of Stevenstone near Great Torrington in Devon, and the widow of Robert Mallet, of Woolleigh,Beaford, near Great Torrington in the same county. During Elizabeth's lifetime the couple lived at Woolleigh. It was probably due to Elizabeth's wealth that Acland was able to purchase the manor of Columb John in the parish of Broadclyst. On his monument in Broadclyst Church a kneeling effigy representing Elizabeth Rolle kneels by his head, below a heraldic escutcheon displaying the arms of Rolle. By Elizabeth he had only one child, a daughter named Dorothy who died an infant.

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