Sir John Acton, 6th Baronet

Sir John Acton, Bt
"Sir John Edward Acton, Bt. x at Parlermo (sic) 1811". View of Bay of Naples in background.
Born	1736 Besançon
Died	12 August 1811(1811-08-12) (aged 75) Palermo

Sir John Francis Edward Acton, 6th Baronet (baptised 3 June 1736 – died 12 August 1811) was commander of the naval forces of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and prime minister of Naples under Ferdinand IV.

He was the son of Edward Acton, a physician at Besançon, and was born there in 1736. He served under his uncle in the navy of Tuscany, and commanded the Tuscan frigates in the Spanish led Invasion of Algiers. During the calamitous disembarkation in which the Spanish were drawn into a trap by the feigned retreat of the Algerines, Henry Swinburne wrote that the Spaniards 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 stopt them in their career, but obliged them to retire with great loss."

In 1779, Queen Maria Carolina of Naples persuaded her brother the Grand-Duke Leopold of Tuscany to allow Acton, who had been recommended to her by Prince 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 army and the navy of the Kingdom of Naples, minister of finance, and finally prime minister.

In 1791, Acton succeeded to the title and estates in 1791, on the death of his second cousin once removed, Sir Richard Acton of Aldenham Park, Shropshire.

His policy was devised in concert with the English ambassador, Sir William Hamilton, and aimed at substituting the influence of Austria and Great Britain for that of Spain at Naples. Such policy consequently involved open opposition to France and the French party in Italy. The fleet, which, when he entered the service of Naples, had practically no existence, comprised in 1798 as many as 120 sail with 1,200 cannon, while the land forces were increased from 15,000 to 60,000. In no degree, however, were the interests of Naples promoted by the vainglorious policy thus inaugurated, and it speedily resulted in disaster. Acton had set himself to extend the commerce of the country by increasing the facilities of internal communication and restoring some of the principal ports, but the increased taxation required to support the army and navy more than counterbalanced these efforts, and caused acute distress and general discontent.