Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Adams-Acton, John
ADAMS-ACTON, JOHN (1830–1910), sculptor, born at Acton Hill, Middlesex, on 11 Dec. 1830, was the son of William Adams, a tailor, of Acton Hill by his wife Helen Elizabeth Humphreys (Par. Reg.). Two sons and three daughters survived the father. The second daughter, Clarissa, engaged in art and exhibited at the Royal Academy. To avoid confusion with other artists of the same name, Adams adopted in 1869 the additional surname of Acton from his birthplace.
Educated at Lady Byron's school, Baling, he received his first tuition as a sculptor under Timothy Butler. He subsequently worked in the studio of Matthew Noble [q. v.], and during 1853-8 studied at the Royal Academy Schools, where his promise was liberally recognised. He won first medals in the antique and life classes, and the gold medal for an original sculpture group, 'Eve supplicating forgiveness at the feet of Adam,' in December 1855. As a student he exhibited a medallion of Dr. Chalton in 1854, and other medallions in 1855 and 1856. In 1858 he gained the Academy's travelling studentship, and was at Rome till 1865. There his success in portraiture, to which he devoted his main efforts, excited the admiration of John Gibson [q. v.], who sent many visitors to his studio.
After 1865 Acton settled in London, where he was soon busily employed. He executed the Wesley memorial in Westminster Abbey, the Cruikshank memorial in St. Paul's Cathedral, the statue of Wesley before the City Road chapel, and the memorial of Cardinal Manning in the new Roman Catholic Cathedral at Westminster. He also executed a colossal statue of Sir Titus Salt, erected near Bradford Town Hall in 1874, and statues of Queen Victoria for Kingston and the Bahamas, of Mr. Gladstone, a close friend and the godfather of his fourth son, for Blackburn and Liverpool, and of Bishop Waldegrave for Carlisle Cathedral. Edward VII, as Prince of Wales, sat to him many times, and the Emperor and Empress Frederick of Germany showed interest in his art. He exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy till 1892, sending there statues or busts of Gladstone (1865, 1868, 1869, 1873, 1879), Lord Brougham (1867, 1868), John Bright (1870), Charles Dickens (1871), Charles Spurgeon (1874), Earl Russell (1874), Archbishop Manning (1884), the earl of Beaconsfield (1885), and Leo XII (1888). Others who sat to him were Canon Duckworth, Lord Shaftesbury Dr. Parker, Mr. Fawcett, Lord Napier of Magdala, Cobden, Lord Roberts, Dean Farrar, Sir Wilfrid Lawson, Sir Isaac Holden, Sir Edwin Landseer, and many leading academicians. Of his ideal work the best were The First Sacrifice,' 'The Lady of the Lake,' 'Pharaoh's Daughter, 'Zenobia,' and 'The Millennium.'
Acton's last work, which was left unfinished, was a small figure of 'The Ange of Peace.' He died at his wife's home Ormidale, Brodick, in the Isle of Arran which he visited every summer, on 28 Oct 1910.
Acton married on 15 Aug. 1875, at St. Mark's Church, Hamilton Terrace, London Marion Hamilton of the Isle of Arran, an authoress writing under the name 'Jeannie Hering.' He had four sons and three daughters. Two of his sons, Harold and Murray, practised their father's art.
[The Times, 29 Oct. 1910; Daily Telegraph and Morning Post, 1 Nov. 1910; Graves's Roy Acad. Exhibitors; Art Journal, Nov. 1910 Studio, Nov. 1910; Hodgson and Eaton, The Royal Academy and its Members, 1905; information suppLed by Mrs. Acton and others.]