The Right Honourable The Lord Acton |
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Member of the House of Lords | |
Acton | |
In office 23 January 1989 – 11 November 1999 |
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Acton of Bridgnorth | |
In office 17 April 2000 – 10 October 2010 |
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Personal details | |
Born |
London, United Kingdom |
30 July 1941
Died | 10 October 2010 Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA |
(aged 69)
Nationality | British |
Political party | Labour |
Spouse(s) | Hilary Cookson (m. 1965; wid. 1973 Judith Todd (m. 1974; div. 1984) Patricia Nassif (m. 1988; d. 2010) |
Children | John |
Alma mater | Trinity College, Oxford |
Occupation | Lawyer |
Richard Gerald Lyon-Dalberg-Acton, 4th Baron Acton, Baron Acton of Bridgnorth (30 July 1941 – 10 October 2010) was a British Labour Party politician and aristocrat.
The oldest son of John Lyon-Dalberg-Acton and Daphne Strutt, daughter of Robert Strutt, 4th Baron Rayleigh, he was educated at St George's College in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe) and at Trinity College, Oxford, from which he emerged with a Bachelor of Arts in 1963 (later, he would receive a Master of Arts from the same institution).
He served a term as director of Coutts & Co before being admitted to Inner Temple in 1976 and practising law for about four years. He then served as a Senior Law Officer of the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs of Zimbabwe from 1981 until 1985.
He became the 4th Baron Acton, as well as 11th Baronet of Aldenham in 1989, upon his father's death. He lost his seat in the House of Lords after the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999, which he notably supported. However, on 17 April 2000, he was created a life peer as Baron Acton of Bridgnorth, of Aldenham in the County of Shropshire, enabling him to return to the House.
Lord Acton sat on the Labour benches and served on the Constitution Committee and on the Joint Committee on Consolidation Bills.