Edward Acton (academic)

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Professor The Honourable Edward Acton
File:Edwardacton.jpg
Vice-Chancellor of the University of East Anglia
In office 2009–2014
Chancellor	Rose Tremain
Preceded by	Bill MacMillan
Succeeded by	David Richardson
Personal details
Born	(1949-02-04) 4 February 1949 Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia
Spouse(s)	Stella Lyon-Dalberg-Acton (m. 1972)
Children	2
Alma mater	University of York (BA) St Edmund's College, Cambridge (PhD)
Profession	Historian

Professor Edward David Joseph Lyon-Dalberg-Acton FRHistS (born 4 February 1949) is a British academic and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of East Anglia. His title from birth is The Honourable but is never referred as such professionally or on the University website.

Born in Zimbabwe, Edward Acton is the 4th son of John Lyon-Dalberg-Acton, 3rd Baron Acton and great-grandson of the historian John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton. He was educated at St George's College, Harare, the University of York (BA) and at St Edmund's College, Cambridge (PhD). He worked at the Bank of England, and then held academic posts at Liverpool and Manchester, before becoming Professor of Modern European History at the University of East Anglia in 1991. He was appointed Dean of the School of History at UEA in 1999, and served as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic) from 2004 until 2009, when he was appointed Vice-Chancellor. He is a member of the Athenaeum Club.

Publications

• Alexander Herzen and the Role of the Intellectual Revolutionary (1979)
• Rethinking the Russian Revolution (1990)
• Russia: the Tsarist and Soviet Legacy, second edition. Longman, London and New York 1995, ISBN 0-582-08922-0.
• Critical Companion to the Russian Revolution 1914-21 (co-edited, 1997)
• The Soviet Union: A Documentary History (2 vols, 2005, 2007)