Sir Thomas Dyke Acland (1787 - 1871), tenth Baronet, known affectionately during his lifetime as ‘the Great’, was a politician and philanthropist. At the age of nine, he succeeded to the baronetcy and the family estates, which he skilfully improved with the assistance of the landscape gardener, John Veitch. He took his B.A. and later his M.A. at Oxford. In 1812, Sir Thomas entered parliament. He lost the seat of Devon in 1818, but was returned from 1820-30 and from 1837-57. On his death in 1871, a memorial cross was erected in the grounds of Killerton, which now belongs to the National Trust and is considered to be one of the great gardens of England.

          On buying the schooner in 1834, Sir Thomas had the interior re-constructed for use as a yacht, cruising mainly in the Mediterranean. He named his yacht, the Lady of St. Kilda to commemorate a visit to St. Kilda by his wife, Lydia, in 1810. St. Kilda is a remote island in the Outer Hebrides, composed mainly of volcanic rock. It lies far off the west coast of Scotland. Its Gaelic name, ‘Hirta’, means ‘the western land.’ There is doubt about the origin of the name St. Kilda. There is no evidence or tradition that there was ever a saint of this name. It is more probably a combination of Latin (from ‘sanctus’ meaning holy and Norwegian ‘kilde’, a well or spring); that is, holy well. From 800A.D. to 1400A.D., Norwegian was the language spoken in St. Kilda, which has several springs. According to the book, ‘A Late Voyage to St. Kilda, the Remotest of all the Hebrides’, by M. Martin published in 1698, the island was supposed to derive its name from a large well whose water was of excellent quality.

          The master of the Lady of St. Kilda was Lieutenant James Ross Lawrence. He was born at Millbrook, Cornwall, England and entered the Royal Navy as a midshipman on 17^th July 1812. Midshipmen could join at the age of thirteen, so Lieutenant Lawrence was probably born in 1798 or 1799. His early naval career, which coincided with the last years of the Napoleonic Wars, has been described as honourable but not distinguished. Lieutenant Lawrence left the Navy in 1822 and in 1825 joined the Coastguard, where he served until 1833. It is not known when he became the master of the Lady of St. Kilda, but he continued as captain for two years after Sir Thomas sold the yacht in 1840.

          The buyer was Jonathan Cundy Pope of Plymouth, who later sold shares to Nicholas Were and James Duck. The ship was again used as a trading vessel and sailed for Port Phillip in February 1841. The Lady of St. Kilda was frequently in Port Phillip from July 1841 onwards and was usually moored off our foreshore, which was soon known as ‘the St. Kilda foreshore.’ This name was later used for the municipal district. It has been suggested that the name was bestowed by Superintendent La Trobe at a picnic given in late 1841 or early 1842 by J.B. Were at which Lieutenant Lawrence was a guest.

          On 7^th December 1841, Lawrence, who had now settled in Melbourne, bought the first block of land sold in the first sale of Crown lands in St. Kilda. The block, later subdivided, was bounded by three unmade roads. He must still have felt an attachment to Sir Thomas Acland, as he gave the name of Acland Street to one of these roads. The remaining two became Fitzroy Street and The Esplanade. (A plaque at the junction of Acland and Fitzroy Streets marks the site of the block.) By 1845, Lawrence had sold the land on which he had built a cottage. Further details of his career in the colony of Port Phillip are not known. Naval records show that he died in 1862.

          In July 1842, the Lady of St. Kilda sailed for Canton. The log for this voyage, up to April 1843, is in the National Library, Canberra. A copy is in St. Kilda Public Library. The schooner was sold again in October 1843. She sailed from Sydney and was wrecked at Tahiti, date unknown.