Sir John Acton, 6th Baronet
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Grand Duchy of Tuscany
The Grand Duchy of Tuscany was a central Italian monarchy that existed, with interruptions, from 1569 to 1859, replacing the Duchy of Florence. The grand duchy's capital was Florence...
and prime minister of Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
under Ferdinand IV
Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies
Ferdinand I reigned variously over Naples, Sicily, and the Two Sicilies from 1759 until his death. He was the third son of King Charles III of Spain by his wife Maria Amalia of Saxony. On 10 August 1759, Charles succeeded his elder brother, Ferdinand VI, as King Charles III of Spain...
.
He was the son of Edward Acton, a physician at Besançon
Besançon
Besançon , is the capital and principal city of the Franche-Comté region in eastern France. It had a population of about 237,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2008...
, and was born there in 1736, succeeding to the title and estates in 1791, on the death of his second cousin once removed, Sir Richard Acton
Richard Acton, 5th Baronet
Sir Richard Acton, 5th Baronet was an English baronet. The son of Sir Whitmore Acton, 4th Bt., he succeeded to the baronetcy upon the death of his father.He held the office of High Sheriff of Shropshire from 1751 to 1752....
of Aldenham Hall, Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
. He served under his uncle in the navy of Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
, and commanded the Tuscan frigates in the Spanish led Invasion of Algiers (1775)
Invasion of Algiers (1775)
The Invasion of Algiers was a massive amphibious attempt in July 1775 by the Spanish to seize the city of Algiers and its enclaves responding to a Moroccan siege of the Spanish possession of Meilila by Sultan Mohammed III a year previously...
. During the calamitous disembarkation in which the Spanish were drawn into a trap by the feigned retreat of the Algerines, Henry Swinburne
Henry Swinburne
Henry Swinburne was an English travel writer.-Life:He was born at Bristol on 8 July 1743, into a Catholic family, and was educated at Scorton school, near Catterick, Yorkshire. He was then sent to the monastic seminary of Lacelle in France. He afterwards studied at Paris, Bordeaux, and in the...
wrote that the Spaniards would have been "broken and slaughtered to a man... had not Mr. Acton, the Tuscan commander, cut his cables, and let his ships drive in to shore just as the enemy was coming on us full gallop. The incessant fire of his great guns, loaded with grape-shot, not only stopt them in their career, but obliged them to retire with great loss."
In 1779 Queen Maria Carolina of Naples persuaded her brother the Grand-Duke Leopold of Tuscany
Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
Leopold II , born Peter Leopold Joseph Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard, was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary and Bohemia from 1790 to 1792, Archduke of Austria and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790. He was a son of Emperor Francis I and his wife, Empress Maria Theresa...
to allow Acton, who had been recommended to her by Prince Caramenico, to undertake the reorganisation of the Neapolitan navy. The ability displayed by him in this led to his rapid advancement. He became commander-in-chief of both the army and the navy of the Kingdom of Naples, minister of finance, and finally prime minister.
His policy was devised in concert with the English ambassador, Sir William Hamilton
William Hamilton (diplomat)
Sir William Hamilton KB, PC, FRS was a Scottish diplomat, antiquarian, archaeologist and vulcanologist. After a short period as a Member of Parliament, he served as British Ambassador to the Kingdom of Naples from 1764 to 1800...
, and aimed at substituting the influence of Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
for that of Spain at Naples. Such policy consequently involved open opposition to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and the French party in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. The financial and administrative measures resulting from a policy which necessitated a great increase of armaments made him intensely unpopular, and in December 1798 he shared the flight of the king and queen.
For the reign of terror which followed the downfall of the Parthenopaean Republic
Parthenopaean Republic
The Parthenopean Republic was a French-supported republic in the territory of the Kingdom of Naples, formed during the French Revolutionary Wars after King Ferdinand IV fled before advancing French troops...
, five months later, Acton has been held responsible. In 1804 he was for a short time deprived of the reins of government at the demand of France; but he was speedily restored to his former position, which he held till, in February 1806, on the entry of the French into Naples, he had to flee with the royal family into Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
. He died at Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
.
He had married, by papal dispensation (13 January 1799) Mary Anne, the eldest daughter of his brother, General Joseph Edward Acton (1 Oct 1737-12 Jan 1830), who was in the Neapolitan service, and had three children:
- Sir Ferdinand Richard Edward ActonSir Ferdinand Dalberg-Acton, 7th BaronetSir Ferdinand Richard Edward Dalberg-Acton, 7th Baronet was a British baronet.He was born in Sicily where his father Sir John Acton, 6th Baronet, a former Prime Minister of Naples, had been forced to flee in 1806. His mother was the eldest daughter of his father’s brother, General Joseph Edward...
(later Dalberg-Acton) (1801–1837) - Cardinal Acton (1803–1847)
- Elizabeth Acton (1806–1850) married Sir Robert Throckmorton, 8th BaronetSir Robert Throckmorton, 8th BaronetSir Robert George Throckmorton, 8th Baronet was an English Whig and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1831 to 1835....
and had issue.
The elder son, Sir Ferdinand, being the father of the first Baron Acton.