Whose Birthday Is It? January 10, 2018

John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, 1st Baron Acton (1834)

Denied admission to Cambridge University because of his Roman Catholicism, Acton studied instead in Munich. He went on to become a noted historian and member of English Parliament. Outspoken against arbitrary power, he was also an editor of a Catholic monthly but resigned due to papal criticism of his scientific approach to history. He coined the saying “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Another of Acton’s sayings is that a strong man with a dagger is followed by whom? More…