The Aclands of Killerton: Remaking Imperial Britain in the Long Nineteenth Century

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The Acland family archives would be the chief source for my proposed project, which is a collaborative doctoral awardbetween Cambridge University and the National Trust. The key theme of my proposed project is understanding theAcland family's 'mission' in the long nineteenth century, that is the motivations and beliefs which underpinned theiractions and enterprises as a family and as individuals. I plan to explore this idea through the Aclands' connections toempire, particularly their antislavery beliefs. My project will contribute most to three broad fields of historiography;histories of elite families; the Victorian antislavery movement; and spatial histories of the British Empire. I propose anapproach that foregrounds the Acland family house, Killerton, as the site on which the family's global connectionsconverged and where their different individual missions coalesced. Could the various campaigns undertaken by differentfamily members, as dictated by social roles and hierarchies, all form part of one overarching mission? Furthermore, thefocus on the home would retrieve from the margins voices and groups often excluded from or with limited capacity inpublic life: notably women, children, and household staff. My project would join the 'global turn' in history whilstmaintaining the specificity of local contexts. It would also contribute to an important body of work that seeks toreunderstand the antislavery movement without lionizing it.