Acland, Lady Harriet (1750–1815)

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Acland, Lady Harriet (1750–1815)

English memoirist. Born Christian Henrietta Caroline on January 3, 1750; died at Tetton, near Taunton, England, on July 21, 1815; daughter of Stephen, 1st earl of Ilchester; married Major John Dyke Acland.

Following her marriage, Lady Harriet Acland accompanied her husband, who was under the command of General John Burgoyne when the British army invaded New York in 1777. She was there when Burgoyne was defeated at Stillwater on September 19 and October 7, and when he surrendered all 5,791 of his troops to Major General Horatio Gates at Saratoga on October 17, 1777. Lady Acland recorded her adventures in her memoirs, which helped chronicle this facet of the Revolutionary War.