John Francis Edward Acton (1736 - 1811)

Born 3 Jun 1736 in Napoli, Campania, Regno delle Due Sicilie

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Ann Acton — married before 1800 (to 12 Aug 1811) in Napoli, Campania, Regno delle Due Sicilie

Descendants

Died 12 Aug 1811 at age 75 in Palermo, Sicilia, Regno delle Due Sicilie

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Biography

John Acton is Notable.

John Francis Edward Acton was born at Besançon in 1736, the son of Edward Acton and his wife, Catherine Gray. He served in the navy of Tuscany and was well regarded for his bravery at the Invasion of Algiers in 1775. In 1779 he was appointed by Grand-Duke Leopold of Tuscany to reorganise the Tuscan navy. So able was he that he was rapidly advanced to Commander-in-Chief of the army and the navy, minister of finance and finally prime minister.

In 1791 he succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of the fifth baronet, Sir Richard Acton, a distant cousin.

With the success of French arms in 1798 John accompanied King Ferdinand and the Queen Maria Carolina together with the British Ambassador, Sir William Hamilton, in their flight to Palermo. The king was restored the following year and John established a reign of terror.

Around 1800 John, by then aged over 60 married his niece, 13 year old Mary Ann, daughter of his brother, Joseph. A Papal dispensation was obtained to permit the marriage. She bore him three children.

When the French entered Naples in 1806 he fled to Sicily with the King and the Queen.

John died at Palermo on on 12 August 1811 and was succeeded in the Baronetcy by his son, Ferdinand.

John was born in 1736. He passed away in 1811.

Sir John Francis Edward Acton, 6th Baronet was a French-born English gentleman who served as Commander of the naval forces of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and later as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Naples under Ferdinand IV.[3]

Marriage and issue

Mary Ann Acton c.1860

On 2 February 1800, at the age of 63, he married his 13 year-old niece Mary Ann Acton, the eldest daughter of his younger brother General Joseph Edward Acton (1737-1830).

The marriage appears to have been made for dynastic purposes to keep control of the family's wealth and required papal dispensation due to consanguinity. On hearing the news Nelson commented "it is never too late to do well" and following his arrival in Naples threw a party for the newlyweds aboard his flagship, the Foudroyant.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_John_Acton,_6th_Baronet

• Stuart Reid, ‘Acton, Sir John Francis Edward, sixth baronet (1736–1811)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 accessed 16 June 2017. This is a subscription site but access is free to readers of British libraries whose library subscribes.

• Wikipedia [1]

• Thepeerage.com John Francis Edward, Baronet Acton Cites: George Edward Cokayne, editor, The Complete Baronetage, 5 volumes (no date (c. 1900); reprint, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 1983), volume II, page 218.