Sir Alexander Fuller Acland Hood
First Bart St. Audries
Married granddaughter of
Jack Fuller's sister Elizabeth,
Isabella Harriet Fuller Acland
(1717 - 1790), was appointed Governor of Gibraltar. During the siege of 1779-83 he held the British fortress against Spanish attack, and was made Baron Heathfield in 1787. He is shown at Gibraltar during the siege, symbolically holding the key to the fortress, with a view to the peninsula in the background; a cannon points steeply down towards the sea and the sky is darkened by smoke. He is wearing what is presumably the ribbon and star of the Order of Bath.
Lord Heathfield sat for this painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds in August and September 1787. The portrait was commissioned by the print publisher John Boydell. It was purchased by the National Gallery, London in 1824.
He, like Jack Fuller, contributed greatly to his community building several village schools and rebuilding St. Audries Church at West Quantoxhead. He was the founder and first Chairman of the West Somerset Railway.
His wife Fanny and their three children contracted tuberculosis but only their eldest daughter, Isabella (1832 - 1903), survived. As a "thank you" offering, Sir Peregrine built Stogursey School. In 1849, Isabella married Sir Alexander Hood Bart (1819 to 1892) in Stogursey Church. They took the joint name of Acland-Hood and lived at both the St. Audries and Fairfield Estates.
