Acton, John

John Francis Edward Acton or Acton , 6th Baronet of Eldenham ( born John Acton, 6th Baronet of Aldenham , Italian: Sir John Francis Edward Acton, VI Baronetto di Aldenham ; June 3, 1736 - August 12, 1811 ) - Fleet commander of Tuscany and the Kingdom of Naples during the Napoleonic Wars . A key figure in the Neapolitan Wars , the almighty temporary worker in the reign of Ferdinand IV and Mary Carolina .

John Francis Edward Acton, 6th Baronet Aldenham
English Sir John Francis Edward Acton, 6th Baronet of Aldenham ital. Sir John Francis Edward Acton, VI Baronetto di Aldenham
Portrait of John Acton from the collection of his grandson . In the background is the Gulf of Naples.
Secretary of State of the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily July 16, 1789 - May 10, 1804
Predecessor	Domenico Caraccioli
Successor	position abolished
Birth	June 3, 1736 ( 1736-06-03 ) Besancon , France
Death	August 12, 1811 ( 1811-08-12 ) (75 years old) Palermo , Sicily
Burial place	Church of Santa Ninfa di Crociferi in Palermo
Kind	Actons
Awards
Military service
Years of service	1775-1779
Affiliation	Grand Duchy of Tuscany
Rank	admiral
Commanded	Fleet of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany
Battles	Algerian expedition (1775)

Born in Besancon , where his Catholic father, a native of England , had medical practice. At first he served in the French Navy. In the service of the Tuscan Duke Leopold of Habsburg, he received the admiral's rank. He commanded his fleet during the unsuccessful attempt of the Spaniards to take control of Algeria in 1775.

Thanks to a relationship with Leopold’s sister, Maria Carolina, I received an invitation from her husband, King Ferdinand of Naples and Sicily, to engage in the reconstruction and improvement of the national fleet. In 1779 he moved to Naples , where, using the Queen’s protection, he becomes Minister of the Sea and War, then Minister of Finance, and, from 1789, Secretary of State - the second person in the kingdom.

In conducting foreign policy, Acton relied on the recommendations of the British envoy Hamilton . He was brought to the queen by hatred of revolutionary France , where the queen's sister was executed. To oppose the French, Acton relied on an alliance with the British and Austrians, and this annoyed the local aristocracy, which had close historical ties with the allied French Spain .

In 1791, Acton inherited from his distant relative the estate of Eldenham Hall in Shropshire, along with the title of baronet , but did not think to leave his homes.

After entering the borders of the kingdom of French troops, Admiral Acton fled with the royal family aboard the Nelson ship in Palermo . Upon returning to Naples, after five months, he drowned in the blood of the Parthenope Republic , despite written admonitions by the Russian admiral Ushakov .

September 25, 1800 received from the Russian Emperor Paul I , who approved the police regime he had introduced, the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called , St. Alexander Nevsky and St. Anna of the 1st degree.

He continued the previous despotic policy until 1806, when under the pressure of the French army he was again forced to flee with the king to Sicily. Having lost the confidence of the monarch, hated by the local aristocracy, he remained to live out his days in Palermo. His marble tomb is located at the entrance to the church of Santa Ninfa di Crociferi in Palermo.

At the age of 63, with the permission of the pope, the admiral married his own niece, Maria Anne Acton. Of their sons, the eldest, Ferdinand Richard , married the granddaughter of the childless prince Dalberg and adopted the double surname “Dalberg-Acton”, and the youngest, Karl Yanuari , made a brilliant career in Roman curia and was promoted to cardinal .