He was born in Castellammare di Stabia, a descendant of the Acton family which had originated in England before moving to Tuscany.

His great-grandfather was General Joseph Edward Acton (1737–1830), brother of Sir John Acton, 6th Baronet, commander of the naval forces of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and prime minister of the Kingdom of Naples.

His aunt Laura Acton was married to Marco Minghetti, prime minister of Italy.

Acton participated in the occupation of Massawa (1885), the intervention in the uprising on Crete by the International Squadron (1897–1898), the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion (1900), and the Italo-Turkish War (1912).

During the First World War, he became a rear admiral and was the Allied commander of an Italian-British-French force which fought the Battle of the Strait of Otranto against the Austrian-Hungarian Navy in 1917.