Oliver Acton 1695-1754
Oliver ACTON 1695-1754
Biographical Note
Younger son of Captain Walter Acton of London. Became a member of the Inner Temple; attorney at the Court of Common Pleas; Steward of Christ's, St. Thomas's and Bridewell Hospitals. His appointment by the City of London, under the designation of “Oliver Acton of London, gentleman,” as Attorney and Receiver for those City Hospitals, is dated 26th Nov. 1728. He was a member of the Goldsmiths Company and died unmarried and without issue, 1754.
Books
The full extent of Acton's library is not known. However, extant printed books cover a range of topics, including natural philosophy, law, English history, mathematics, etc. He also owned manuscripts, such as Bodleian MS. Rawl. B. 71, which has this inscription ‘13 March, 1733/4, bought this book and another (no. 674) for 7s. 8d, at the sale by auction of the MSS. of Tho. Rawlinson, esq. deceased. See catalogue 16th, pa. 51, no. 673. O. Acton.’
Characteristic Markings
Acton used an engraved armorial bookplate (Franks 93). Several books have his date of acquisition and a note 'Collated & Perfect O A [or] O. Acton'; he seems to have been one of the earliest British users of this phrase, along with Edward Collingwood. Exeamples: M. Ridley, Short Treatise of Magnetical Bodies, (London, 1613) Mass. Insitute of Technology Archives, QC751.R53 1613 (which also has his bookplate); Monasticon Favershamiense in agro Cantiano (London, 1671) Folger S4772; J. Selden, Fleta (London, 1647) William & Mary Law Lib., George Wythe Collection, KD600 .F54 1647; W. Hakewill, Libertie of the Subject (London, 1641), Princeton Univ. Lib. Ex 14432.426; J. Ozanam, Recreations Mathematical (London, 1708), Sotheby’s, sale of the Ricky Jay Collection (October 27, 2021), lot 445.
Sources
- Landed families of Great Britain and Ireland.
- Druckett, G.F., The Marches of Wales, Archaeologia Cambrensis (London, 1881) Series IV, Volume XII, p. 137, footnote 1.
- Gambier Howe, E. R. J. Franks bequest: catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed to the ... British Museum. London, 1903-4.
- Maggs Bros., Bookbinding in the British Isles (London, 1996), p. 24, item 12, example dated 21 July 1735.
- Woolrych, H.W., Lives of Eminent Serjeants-at-law of the English Bar (London, 1869) Vol I, p. 162-163.
- Wooton, Thomas, The English Baronetage (London, 1771), p. 400.
- Information from Stephen Ferguson.