Acton on the World Cup

Part of a World Cup 2010 match ticket

I watched the Belgium v. USA World Cup match on Monday, July 6^th, and of course was extremely disappointed at the 4-1 result. As I have mentioned: I am no football/soccer expert, but even I could tell that the USA squad were not taking it to the opponent. C’est la vie, as they may say in Belgique. (I happened to walk in the door to my home on Friday, July 10^th, and virtually immediately, Spain kicked their second goal, which ended up defeating Belgium in the quarterfinal.) And as of publication: England are through to the semifinal round (!!) All this fuss over the tournament reminded me that way back in 2010, the USA World Cup group stage opening match happened to be against (you guessed it) … England. There was no way I couldn’t watch it, right …? And if football is a kind of religion in Britain, well, of course there’s also no way I couldn’t write about that match, and my almost-encounter with the Lord* …!

Richard Lyon-Dalburg-Acton, the 4th Baron Acton - known as Richard, Lord Acton - spent much of his time in Iowa, having married an Iowa native in 1988. His ancestor, the 1st Baron Acton, is famous for his very well-known quote, ‘Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ He was the final male to receive the hereditary title that meant he automatically sat in Parliament in the House of Lords and - maybe surprisingly - he supported the 1999 act abolishing this practice. He was made a life peer anyway, as Baron Acton of Bridgnorth, so he would still sit, debating and lawmaking, in the House of Lords. He would spend part of his year in Iowa, and the other part of his year in Britain, while Parliament was in session.

Credit: portrait of Richard, Lord Acton, by Peter Thompson (Wikimedia/Creative Commons)

He would write for the Des Moines Register, and many of his columns were collected in a book called A Brit Among the Hawkeyes (Iowa State University Press, 1998). His wife was the academic advisor for a very long-standing dear friend of mine’s law thesis. So, I had long-been aware of him well before relocating to the United Kingdom.

While researching this missive, I found an autographed copy of the book on eBay, and he signed his name clearly with ‘Richard’ – and something I can’t quite read afterward. As a peer, it would be acceptable for him to be styled as, and signing his name with, merely ‘Acton.’ But: not conducting parliamentary or governmental duties with this signature, I suppose he could have signed his name any way he wished - especially in America. As he detailed in his Des Moines Register article in June, 1996 (page 170 of A Brit Among the Hawkeyes – in which he also explains his ancestor’s famous quote), an employee of the Library of Congress once did not believe him when he visited the premises and signed his name ‘Lord Acton’ … informing him that no, he was not Lord Acton. He hastily explained he really was ‘a Lord Acton,’ just not the Lord Acton (*nor have I ascribed him with deity, as per the earlier asterisk!)

Before the kickoff of the USA v. England match in 2010, I was looking at the huge variation in flags the spectators had unfurled in the stadium, because I do like a bit of vexillology. Sure enough: there was an Iowa flag! I took a photo with my smartphone (a low-resolution picture by today’s standards):

Then within a few days, I read something online from Richard’s brother, Edward Acton. And I thought: I’ve never attempted to contact Richard, Lord Acton… I wonder if he’d like to see that picture of the Iowa flag at this world sporting event between the two countries we both share …? Maybe just a quick note to show him that Iowa flag amongst the sea of banners, team kits, and national tribal colours the footie fans were displaying. And so I did: I wrote a letter with the screengrab, and I sent it to him, in care of the House of Lords, Westminster. I gave him a little background about myself, and I included my address, half-concerned that a letter sent to a sitting lord, to the Houses of Parliament, had to have a real person’s address on it before it could be passed on to him - for security reasons.

And to my very big surprise: not more than a month later, I got a handwritten letter in the post:

Dear Lea,

Your letter reached me in London, where I have been recovering from an operation. It has cheered me tremendously, and I thank you for your very kind words.

With all good wishes

Lord Acton

I thought: wow - how nice of him to send a quick note back to me!

He passed away only a few weeks after that, in October. I never met him, and it turned out to be the only contact I ever had with him. I’m so glad I got to brighten his mood a little when his health was not good, and it appeared he could have used the little boost.

As for the match… rather appropriately and diplomatically for a barrister-statesman and a Hawkeye among the Brits: the result was a draw of 1-1!

I am a member of the Iowa Writers Collaborative. We are from around the state - some are free and some are available for nominal fees - and we contribute commentary and feature stories of interest to those who care about Iowa.

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