Edward Acton (Royal Navy officer)

Edward Acton (died 1707) was a captain in the Royal Navy, distinguished for services in the reign of Queen Anne.

Life

Acton was born in about 1673, the illegitimate son of Mary Acton (née Weaver), widow of William Acton of Buildwas, Shropshire (son of Sir Edward Acton, 1st Baronet).[1] He joined the navy as a volunteer aboard HMS Diamond in September 1691, was a Lieutenant on HMS Advice in May 1693 and succeeded to command that vessel following the death of the previous captain on 7 October 1694.[2]

In 1703 Acton had Captain Richard Kirkby and Captain Cooper Wade as prisoners as he escorted them back to England to be executed. They had been found guilty of failing to support Vice-Admiral John Benbow.[2]

In Sir George Rooke's vigorous and intrepid attack of Gibraltar, he commanded HMS Kingston, one of the ships at the Capture of Gibraltar.[3]

Under the same chief, Acton took part in the Battle of Málaga (1704); but aspersions had been cast upon his bravery. Fortunately, however, for Acton, and others who underwent the same ordeal, a court martial silenced slander and exposed the fabrications. He was fully and honourably acquitted.[3]

In 1706 he took command of HMS Grafton which was refitted the following year. Whilst part of a larger battle and while escorting other ships his ship was engaged by two French ships under the command of Claude de Forbin off Dungeness. Acton was killed.[2]

References
  1. "Staffordshire Pedigrees". p. 172.
  2. Le Fevre, Peter. "Acton, Edward". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. Rose, Hugh James (1857). "Acton, Edward". A New General Biographical Dictionary. Vol. 1 AA–ANS. London: B. Fellowes et al. p. 81.


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