Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Acland, Christina Harriet Caroline Fox

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ACLAND, Christina Harriet Caroline Fox, daughter of Stephen, first earl of Ilchester, b. 3 Jan., 1750; d. at Tetton, England, 21 July, 1815. She married, in September, 1770, Maj. John Dyke Acland, accompanied him to America, and shared in all the vicissitudes of Burgoyne's campaign, which culminated in the surrender of the British army, 17 Oct., 1777. In the second battle of Saratoga, 7 Oct., Maj. Acland was severely wounded and carried a prisoner within the American lines. On the night of the 9th, accompanied by the chaplain and her maid, she set out from the British camp in a frail boat and in the midst of a driving storm to rejoin her husband. She was received with the utmost cordiality by Gates, shared her husband's captivity, and carefully nursed him until restored to health. The kindness that had been shown to his wife Maj. Acland reciprocated, while on parole in New York, by doing all in his power to mitigate the sufferings of the American prisoners. The oft-repeated story that after her husband's death she became insane for a time, and finally married Chaplain Brudenell, is totally untrue. She died the widow of Maj. Acland, as is attested by the burial register. The story that her husband was killed in a duel is equally unfounded. He received a paralytic stroke on 29 Nov., 1778, while directing some improvements about his place, and died on 2 Dec. In person Lady Harriet was highly graceful and delicate, and her manners were elegantly feminine. Mrs. Perez Norton commemorated her sufferings in a touching poem, and before she left New York a painting representing her standing in a boat, with a white handkerchief in her hand as a flag of truce, was exhibited at the royal academy, London. There is a striking portrait of her by Sir Joshua Reynolds, at Killerton, Exeter, the seat of Sir Thomas Dyke Ackland. She suffered for years from cancer, but bore it with great fortitude. She is still remembered for her numerous charities.