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 peer.

Early life and education

The oldest son of John Lyon-Dalberg-Acton and Daphne Strutt, daughter of

Robert Strutt, 4th Baron Rayleigh Robert John Strutt, 4th Baron Rayleigh (28 August 1875 – 13 December 1947) was a British peer and physicist. He discovered "active nitrogen" and was the first to distinguish the glow of the night sky. Early life and education Strutt was bo ...

, 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).

Career

He served a term as director of

Coutts & Co Coutts & Co. is a London-headquartered private bank and wealth manager. Founded in 1692, it is the eighth oldest bank in the world. Today, Coutts forms part of NatWest Group's wealth management division. In the Channel Islands and the Isle of ...

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 In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

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.

Personal life

From 1965 to 1973, Acton was married to Hilary Cookson, with whom he had a son,

Johnny Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly, females. Varia ...

. After having been a widower for a year, he married

Judith Todd Judith Todd (born 18 March 1943) is the second daughter of Garfield Todd (1908–2002), Rhodesian Prime Minister 1953-58, and a political activist regarding Zimbabwe. She was married to Richard Acton from 1974 to 1984. Todd was born at Dadaya M ...

, the daughter of Sir Garfield Todd, former Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia. The marriage ended in 1984. In 1988, Acton married his third wife, Patricia Nassif, a professor at the University of Iowa College of Law in

Iowa City Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...

, Iowa. He divided his time between London and

Cedar Rapids Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, north of Iowa City and northeast of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city. ...

in Iowa. The couple remained married until his death. Lord Acton was succeeded by his son from his first marriage and only child John Lyon-Dalberg-Acton, 5th Baron Acton.

References

External links

Obituary
in '' The Guardian'', 2 November 2010.
Obituary
in '' The Daily Telegraph'', 2 November 2010. {{DEFAULTSORT:Acton, Richard Lyon-Dalberg-Acton, 4th Baron 1941 births 2010 deaths People from Cedar Rapids, Iowa Richard Labour Party (UK) life peers 4 Alumni of St. George's College, Harare Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford Labour Party (UK) hereditary peers Strutt family Eldest sons of British hereditary barons Lyon-Dalberg-Acton Life peers created by Elizabeth II Hereditary peers removed under the House of Lords Act 1999