Born 3 December 1882 the second of three brothers he was educated at Harrow and King's College, Cambridge, where he was a scholar and was placed in the first division of the second class in the Classical Tripos, part I, 1905. He rowed for his college and was captain of the University swimming team. At St Bartholomew's Hospital he won the Luther Holden research scholarship and was house surgeon to Sir Anthony Bowlby. During the war of 1914-18 he served in the RAMC as a surgical specialist with the 11th General Hospital in France and in Italy. He was chief assistant in the surgical out-patient department at St Bartholomew's, and was then appointed to the staffs of the East London (later Queen Elizabeth) Hospital for Children at Shadwell and the Metropolitan Hospital. He was also surgeon to St Andrew's Hospital, Dollis Hill, and consulting orthopaedic surgeon to the London County Council. He was chairman of the City division of the British Medical Association 1935-36. Acton retired in 1938 and bought a country estate at Par in Cornwall. During the war of 1939-45 he was a Major in the Home Guard. He was President of the Royal Cornwall Infirmary, and High Sheriff of the county in 1945. About 1947 he moved to Bradfields, Stockbridge, Hampshire. He died there on 10 February 1961 aged 78, survived by his wife and their son, three daughters, and nine grandchildren. He had married in 1915 Vera, younger daughter of Honoratus Lloyd KC. Acton Davis was a big man physically and in character, who enjoyed surgery and administration, as well as games and country sports.