Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Richard Maximilian Dalberg Acton was born in August 1870, son of the 1st Baron and Countess Marie Arco-Valley of Munich. Completing his education at Magdalen College, Oxford, he entered the Foreign Office in 1894, and was appointed 3rd Secretary in the Diplomatic Service in Berlin in 1896 and 2nd Secretary in 1900.

Having then succeeded to his father’s titles, becoming the 9th Baronet of Aldenham and 2nd Baron Acton in 1902, he was appointed 2nd Secretary in Vienna and thence, in the following year, in Berne. A similar posting to Madrid having followed, he became 1st Secretary in The Hague in 1908, in addition to being appointed a Lord in Waiting to H.M. the King and, in 1911, Charges d’Affaires in Darmstadt. A Counsellor of the embassy on the outbreak of hostilities in 1914, he moved to Berne, and thence to Zurich, as Consul-General 1917-18. His final posting was as Envoy to Finland 1919-20 and he died in June 1924.

In addition to being created a K.C.V.O. in 1916, Acton was awarded the Grand Officer of the French Legion of Honour, the Grand Officer of the Prussian Order of the Crown and the Grand Cross of the Danish Order of Dannebrog.

Great Britain, The Royal Victorian Order, K.C.V.O., Knight Commander’s neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel, reverse officially numbered, ‘K302’, nearly extremely fine £400-500

Created a K.C.V.O. on 1 January 1916 as late Lord in Waiting to H.M. King George V. He had previously been awarded the M.V.O. 4th Class on 8 March 1901 as Second Secretary, H.M. Embassy, Berlin, on the occasion of H.M. King Edward VII’s visit to Cronberg.