Admiral Sir John Francis Edward Acton, 6th Baronet (3 June 1736 12 August 1811) was a British naval officer and politician who served in the Tuscan and Neapolitan navies. He also served as Prime Minister of Naples under Ferdinand IV. Acton served Naples during the turbulent times when French Revolutionary Army under Napoleon was sweeping across Europe and threatening to extinguish the monarchy he served.
Early life
thumb|upright|Acton's [[coat of arms]]
John Acton was born on 3 June 1736 in Besançon, Doubs, the son of Edward Acton, an English physician who had settled in the town. Acton was the great-grandson of Sir Walter Acton, 2nd Baronet. In 1791, aged 55, John succeeded his second cousin once removed as 6th Acton baronet.
Career
Service in Tuscany
Acton followed his uncle and joined the navy of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, serving under him. In 1773, he was captaining the Tuscan frigate Austria off Tetouan when Acton was informed that two Algerian xebecs and five Salé Rovers were about to go on a piratical cruise in the Mediterranean. On 14 October, Austria encountered a 24-gun Salé Rover near Cape Spartel and captured her along with all 80 of the ship's surviving crew. Acton then ordered his crew to engage a second Salé Rover which ran aground near Algiers. While waiting for an opportune moment to destroy the grounded vessel, Austria was attacked by another Salé Rover and two xebecs, though the Tuscans drove the attacking Salé Rover ashore and destroyed her after a short chase. Acton then attempted to capture one xebec, but she managed to escape to Larache, ending the engagement; Acton later discovered the xebecs and Salé Rovers were all part of one squadron that had left Larache to capture Austria, which had suffered no casualties.
In July 1775, Acton, now at the rank of admiral, commanded the Tuscan contingent of the Spanish-Tuscan invasion of Algiers under Spanish General Alejandro O'Reilly. On 9 July, the Spanish landed two waves of troops on the Algerian coastline, which initially met with little resistance as the Algerians drew the Spaniards further inland through a feigned retreat. The Algerian defenders eventually drew the Spanish into a trap and ambushed them, inflicting heavy casualties on the Spaniards and driving them back to the shoreline. English travel writer Henry Swinburne wrote that the Spanish 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 stop't them in their career but obliged them to retire with great loss." The invaders proceeded to withdraw.
Service in Naples
thumb|upright|Portrait of Acton attributed to [[Giovanni Griffoni]]
In 1779, Maria Carolina of Naples persuaded her brother Leopold of Tuscany to allow Acton, who had been recommended to her by Francesco d'Aquino, Prince of Caramanico, 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 Neapolitan army and the navy, minister of finance, and finally prime minister. Shortly afterwards the minister was recalled, but when the French entered Naples in 1806, he together with the royal family again took refuge in Sicily. A letter of 25 July 1809 reported that Acton had "returned a few days since from the baths of Termina, not in the least benefited by their waters. The painful effects of a paralytic stroke, and a severe fall last year, are now aggravated by a nearly total deprivation of sight."
Succession to baronetcy
thumb|upright|1823 portrait of Mary Acton
thumb|upright|Funerary monument to Acton at the [[Santa Ninfa dei Crociferi]]
In 1791, aged 55, he succeeded to the Acton baronetcy and estates on the death of his second cousin once removed, Sir Richard Acton, 5th Baronet of Aldenham Park in Shropshire. The marriage appears to have been made for dynastic purposes to keep control of the family's wealth and following his arrival in Naples threw a party for the newlyweds aboard his flagship, the Foudroyant. "By raising the awning twenty feet, removing the guns, and robing the masts in silk, two spacious rooms were given, and these were most splendidly decorated; and when lighted up in the evening, really presented a fairy-like appearance, while the music that floated over the calm waters of this beautiful bay was softened. All the nobles of the court, with the exception of the king and queen, were there". The festivities were somewhat marred when a drunk British lieutenant accidentally knocked an Italian princess into the water; on emerging she furiously and unsuccessfully demanded he be hanged from the foreyard arm.
By his wife he had three children:
Acton was buried in the church of Santa Ninfa dei Crociferi, where survives his wall monument, displaying sculpted (all in relief) his bust within a laurel circlet and antique trophy of arms above a pedimented sarcophagus in the form of a double-bodied winged Sphinx, inscribed in Latin as follows:<br/>
:DOM hic jacet Joannes Acton Angliae dynasta vere egenorum pater. Obiit pridie idus sextilis Anno Domini MDCCCXI aetatis suae LXXV ("To the greatest and best God. Here lies John Acton, from a dynasty of England, truly the father of the needy. He died on the first day of the Ides of the (i.e of the Roman year commencing in March, thus August) in the year of our Lord 1811, (in the year) of his age 75").