AS SEEN ON TV: DR. THEODORE DYKE ACLAND

"Izzy wizzy, let's get busy!"

'The Sooty Show'

Thanksgiving week vacation is over; time to get back to business.....

On November 9th, actor Richard Morant passed away unexpectedly due to an aneurysm. He is perhaps best known for playing Dr. Dwight Enys in 'Poldark' and for playing Harry Flashman in 'Tom Brown's School Days'. (We wrote about his version of Flashman here.)

Morant also is involved in my continuing series of essays about Jack the Ripper, which is currently running here at "Inner Toob". He played Dr. Gull's son-in-law, Dr. Acland, in the 1988 TV movie "Jack The Ripper". He is the second actor from that production to die this year. (The first being TP McKenna who played O'Connor.)

Here is a look at Morant's televersion of Acland.....

DR. THEODORE DYKE ACLAND

AS SEEN IN:
"Jack The Ripper"

AS PLAYED BY:
Richard Morant

From Wikipedia:
Theodore Dyke Acland MD, FRCP, FRCS was a British physician, surgeon and author and was the son-in-law of Sir William Gull, a leading London medical practitioner and one of the Physicians-in-Ordinary to HM Queen Victoria. For many years Acland was the Medical Adviser to the government of the Sudan.

Theodore Dyke Acland was born on 14 November 1851 in Killerton, Devon, England. He was the third son of Sir Henry Wentworth Acland, 1st Baronet, and Sarah Cotton, and the grandson of Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 10th Baronet. Acland was educated at Winchester College and Christ Church, the University of Oxford, as well as the University of Leipzig, the University of Berlin and St. Thomas' Hospital. He graduated from Oxford University with the degree of Master of Arts (MA).

Acland married Caroline Cameron Gull (1855–1929), the daughter of Sir William Withey Gull and Susan Anne Lacy, on 12 April 1888. They had two children: Aimee Sarah Agnes Dyke Acland was born on 14 May 1889 and died in infancy later that year; and Theodore William Gull Acland was born on 7 Nov 1890. The family resided in Bryanston Square, London W1, England.

Acland became posthumously involved in the Jack the Ripper Royal conspiracy theory when Dr. Thomas E. A. Stowell suggested in a 1970 article in The Criminologist that Sir William Gull, the Royal physician, attempted to certify Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, who was the Ripper. Stowell claimed that his main source was Gull's daughter Caroline, Acland's wife. Having studied under Acland Stowell referred to him as "one time my beloved Chief". Stowell was an executor of Acland's will.

Stephen Knight, in his 1976 book "Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution" went even further, claiming that Jack the Ripper was actually a three-man team, with Gull as the actual killer. All three, Knight alleged, were Freemasons and the killings were carried out according to Masonic ritual. Knight claims that Gull afterwards became insane and was certified in an asylum under the name "Thomas Mason" and a sham funeral service carried out in the pretence that he had died. Cited as evidence in support of the theory is the fact that Acland signed his father-in-law's death certificate in an attempted cover-up. In fact, while Acland's actions were unusual and were not encouraged, they were not illegal.

In the 1988 mini-series "Jack the Ripper" Acland was played by Richard Morant.

Acland died on 16 April 1931 aged 79.

Good night, Mr. Morant, and may God bless....