When I discovered John Emerich Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton (aka Lord Acton), I was taken by his life achievements in literature, immediately; and the fact that he was my 6th cousin in my paternal Acton-Bond family line only added to my appreciation of him. I learnt through him that we can find a family with so much recorded factual evidence and accounts of their lives that we can become overwhelmed by information. There is so much information available on the subject of Lord Acton's life and his literary works that it would be amiss for me to attempt to add to what is available for the family researcher. Having said this I can assist any close or distant family member, with a research interest to connect to him and enjoy a new exciting family member in their tree. I can offer individuals who are not actively researching, but still interested in my family discoveries a detailed account of their connection to Lord Acton or any other family ancestor. Sharing with others is paramount to all my family research, and my most enjoyable reward is their enlightened surprise.
There would be no exaggeration in my stating that I put Lord Acton up there with Sir Winston Churchill on my level of admiration scale of people (Family) in history. Maybe because I connected with a statement he wrote in a letter to an Anglican Bishop of the Catholic Church "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely". I feel I understand him and feel close to his way of thinking, that I admire him. It is apparent that he left too few completed works, to be placed high; among the great historians. However, he earned the respect of and influenced others with his published works.
Acton was an English Roman Catholic Historian, Member of Parliament for Bridgnorth and Writer, born 10th Jan 1834 in Naples and died 19th Jun 1902 Tegernsee, Germany. The only son of Ferdinand Dalberg-Acton Sir and Marie Louise Pelline Von Dalberg.
He married Countess Marie Anna Lobomilla Euphrosina von Arco auf Valmy, on 1st Aug 1865 and they had six children.
1. Hon. Mary Elizabeth Anne Dalberg-Acton, 1866 - 1951.
2. Hon. Annie Mary Katherine Dalberg-Acton-Acton, 1868 - 1917.
3. Richard Lyon Dalberg-Acton, 2nd Baron Acton, 1870 - 1924.
4. Hon. John Dalberg-Acton, 1872 - 1873.
5. Hon. Elizabeth Mary Dalberg-Acton, 1874 - 1881.
6. Hon. Jeanne Marie Dalberg-Acton, 1876 - 1919.
Sir John Dalberg-Acton Quotations:
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority.
There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.
History is the arbiter of controversy, the monarch of all she surveys.
Universal History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul.
The strong man with the dagger is followed by the weak man with the sponge.
The science of politics is the one science that is deposited by the streams of history, like the grains of gold in the sand of a river; and the knowledge of the past, the record of truths revealed by experience, is eminently practical, as an instrument of action and power that goes to making the future.
Save for the wild force of Nature, nothing moves in this world that is not Greek in its origin.
Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought.
The wisdom of divine rule appears not in perfection but in the improvement of the world.
History is the true demonstration of Religion.
The wisdom of divine rule appears not in the perfection but in the improvement of the world, history is the true demonstration of religion.
The issue that has swept down the centuries and that will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.
Lord Acton was a great historian of his time and one of the greatest classical liberal historians of all time.
Recommended reading: The History of Freedom, by John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton. Historical Essays and Studies, by John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton. Lectures on Modern History, by John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton. Essays in The Study and Writing of History, by John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton.
Copyright © Noel Bond. Researched and written by Noel Bond, No written part of this Blog may be reproduced in any form, by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author.
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