Sir Whitmore Acton, 4th Baronet (c. 1677 – 17 January 1731/32) was a British Member of Parliament. He was the eldest son of Sir Edward Acton, 3rd Baronet and educated at

St Edmund Hall, Oxford St Edmund Hall (also known as The Hall and Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any university" and was the las ...

and the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

. He succeeded to the

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

cy upon the death of his father in 1716. Acton lived at Aldenham Park, near

Bridgnorth Bridgnorth is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire, England. The River Severn splits it into High Town and Low Town, the upper town on the right bank and the lower on the left bank of the River Severn. The population at the United Kingd ...

and held the office of

High Sheriff of Shropshire This is a list of sheriffs and high sheriffs of Shropshire The high sheriff, sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the high sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of t ...

for 1727–28.

Personal life

He married Elizabeth Gibbon, daughter of Matthew Gibbon of

Putney Putney () is an affluent district in southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ...

, Surrey, a relation of the famous historian

Edward Gibbon Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English essayist, historian, and politician. His most important work, ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1789, is known for ...

, and had the following children: * Sir Richard Acton, 5th Baronet (1 January 1712 – 20 November 1791) *Elizabeth Acton (b. bef. 1730) *Jane Acton (b. bef. 1732) *Mary Acton (b. bef. 1732)

References

Sources

* * 1670s births 1731 deaths Alumni of St Edmund Hall, Oxford Members of the Middle Temple Baronets in the Baronetage of England Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1710–1713 High sheriffs of Shropshire Whitmore {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub