Acton, Sir John, 1st Baron Acton (1834–1902). Historian and liberal Roman catholic. From an old Shropshire family on his father's side, Acton had a German mother and was brought up mainly on the continent. He first came to public attention writing articles for liberal catholic periodicals. He reported the 1870–1 Vatican Council, opposing papal infallibility. Acton was an MP 1858–65 and was created a peer by Gladstone in 1869. In 1895 he became regius ...

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