Baron Acton


Baron Acton, of Aldenham in the County of Shropshire, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 11 December 1869 for Sir John Dalberg-Acton, 8th Baronet, a prominent historian and Liberal Member of Parliament.
His son, the second Baron, was a diplomat and also held minor office in the Liberal administrations of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and H. H. Asquith. In 1919, he assumed by Royal licence the additional surname of Lyon, which was that of his father-in-law. His son, the third Baron, sold the family home in 1947 and settled in Rhodesia. The fourth Baron, who succeeded his father in 1989, lost his seat in the House of Lords after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999. However, on 17 April 2000, he was created a life peer as Baron Acton of Bridgnorth, of Aldenham in the County of Shropshire. Consequently, Lord Acton was able to return to the House of Lords, where he sat on the Labour benches. As of 2014, the titles are held by his son, the fifth Baron, who succeeded in 2010.
The Acton Baronetcy, of Aldenham in the County of Shropshire, was created in the Baronetage of England on 17 January 1644 for Edward Acton. He represented Bridgnorth in both the Short Parliament and the Long Parliament, and he was a supporter of Charles I during the Civil War. His son, the second Baronet, grandson, the third Baronet, and great-grandson, the fourth Baronet, all sat as Members of Parliament for Bridgnorth. On the death of the latter's son, the fifth Baronet, the line of the eldest son of the second Baronet failed.
The title was inherited by the fifth Baronet's second cousin once removed, the sixth Baronet. He was the son of Edward Acton, who had settled in Besançon in France as a physician; Edward was the son of another Edward, son of Walter, second son of Sir Walter Acton. The sixth Baronet served as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Naples and married his niece, Mary Anne Acton. Their second son, Charles Januarius Edward Acton, known as Cardinal Acton, was a prominent clergyman in the Catholic Church. The sixth Baronet was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son, the seventh Baronet. In 1832, he married Marie Louise Pelline von Dalberg, only child and heiress of Emmerich Joseph von Dalberg, Duke of Dalberg, a member of an ancient German aristocratic family. The Actons became heirs to the Marquess of Groppoli in Tuscany through the Duke's wife Pellina Brignole-Sale. In 1833, the seventh Baronet assumed by Royal licence the surname of Dalberg-Acton. He was succeeded by his son, the eighth Baronet, who in 1869 was elevated to the peerage as Baron Acton.
The family seat was Aldenham Park near Bridgnorth, Shropshire, which was sold in 1959.
As of 31 December 2013, the present Baronet has not successfully proven his succession and is therefore not on the Official Roll of the Baronetage, with the baronetcy considered dormant.

Coat of arms

The heraldic blazon for the coat of arms of the Lyon-Dalberg-Acton family is: Quarterly: 1st and 4th: Gules, semée of cross crosslets fitchée or two lions passant guardant in pale argent ; 2nd, quarterly: 1st and 4th: Azure, six fleurs-de-lis three two and one argent a chief dancetty of the last; 2nd and 3rd: Or, a cross patonce gules over all an escutcheon gules thereon a tower argent a chief dancetty of the last ; 3rd: Azure, a lion passant or between three plates each charged with a griffin's head erased sable.

Acton baronets, of Aldenham (1644)

The heir presumptive is the present holder's uncle, the Hon. Robert Peter Lyon-Dalberg-Acton.
The heir presumptive's heir apparent is his son, Christopher Richard Henri Lyon-Dalberg-Acton. He is a partner at Macfarlanes.
The heir presumptive's heir apparent's heir apparent is his son, John Edward Roger Lyon-Dalberg-Acton.