Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
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Wikipedia
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury (July 22, 1621–January 21, 1683), known as Sir Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 2nd Baronet, from 1631 to 1661 and as The Lord Ashley from 1661 to 1672, was a prominent English politician of the Interregnum and during the reign of King Charles II.
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Cooper, born in Dorset, suffered the death of both his parents at a young age. He was the eldest son and successor of Sir John Cooper, 1st Baronet, of Rockbourne in Hampshire, and his mother was the former Anne Ashley, daughter and sole heiress of Sir Anthony Ashley, 1st Baronet (d. 1628), of Wimborne St Giles in Dorset, Secretary-at-War in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. He was raised by relatives and family friends, while being subjected to financial mulcting through the Court of Wards. He inherited his father's Baronetcy in 1631. Educated largely by Puritan tutors, he attended Exeter College, Oxford. While there he fomented a minor riot and left without taking a degree; nevertheless, he was admitted into Lincoln's Inn.[1]
[edit] MP
Sir Anthony was elected to the Short Parliament for the borough of Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, where his family owned land. He was elected to the Long Parliament for Poole in his native Dorset. But Denzil Holles, soon to rise to prominence as a leader of the opposition to the King and a personal rival of Sir Anthony, blocked his admission to the Parliament. It was probably feared that Sir Anthony, as a result of his recent marriage to the daughter of Charles I's Lord Keeper, Coventry, would be too sympathetic to the king.
When the Civil War began, Sir Anthony supported the King (somewhat echoing Holles's concerns), but changed sides soon afterward, citing the King's policies as being "destructive to religion and State". He eventually joined Cromwell's Council of State, but resigned in 1655, protesting against Cromwell's dictatorial politics. Four years later, George Monck, a prominent royalist military officer, recruited Cooper in the Restoration of Charles II.
[edit] Restoration
In October 1660, shortly after the Restoration's success, Sir Anthony was on the commission that controversially tried the Regicides (those who had participated in the trial and execution of Charles I). The commission eventually found ten surviving members guilty, and another four were posthumously convicted (their bodies were exhumed and hanged publicly). One year later, he was created Baron Ashley, of Wimborne St Giles in the County of Dorset, and appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer.
In that position, Lord Ashley served on the Clarendon Ministry as one of its less prominent members; he frequently quarrelled with the head of government, Lord Clarendon, especially upon matters of religious toleration (which Ashley supported but Clarendon opposed). In 1663, Ashley was one of eight Lords Proprietors given title to a huge tract of land in North America, which eventually became the Province of Carolina. Ashley probably collaborated with John Locke to write the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina. Both the Ashley River and the Cooper River in South Carolina were named after Lord Ashley.
In 1666, he met John Locke. Cooper had come to Oxford seeking treatment for a liver infection. Cooper was impressed with Locke and persuaded him to become part of his retinue. Locke had been looking for a career and in 1667 moved into Shaftesbury's home at Exeter House in London, ostensibly as the household physician. Shaftesbury's liver infection became life-threatening. Locke coordinated the advice of several physicians and was probably instrumental in persuading Shaftesbury to undergo an operation (then life-threatening itself) to remove the cyst. Shaftesbury survived and prospered, crediting Locke with saving his life.
After the fall of Lord Clarendon in 1667, Lord Ashley became a prominent member of the Cabal, in which he formed the second "A". Ashley became Lord Chancellor in 1672, and was created Earl of Shaftesbury and Baron Cooper, of Pawlett in the County of Somerset. He was also appointed First Lord of Trade. He served as Chancellor for one year, but remained First Lord of Trade until 1676.
Due to his intriguing with the Duke of Monmouth against the succession of the Catholic Duke of York, Shaftesbury fell from favour, and became a leader of the radical Whigs. In 1681, Shaftesbury was charged with high treason, but the charges were later dismissed. Nonetheless, he fled to the Netherlands, where he died two years later.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Lodge, p. 487
[edit] References
- Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury
- Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page
- Edmund Lodge The Genealogy of the Existing British Peerage, 1859. at Googe Books
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Edward Hyde |
Chancellor of the Exchequer 1661 – 1672 |
Succeeded by Sir John Duncombe |
| Preceded by Orlando Bridgeman as Lord Keeper of the Great Seal |
Lord Chancellor 1672 – 1673 |
Succeeded by Sir Heneage Finch as Lord Keeper of the Great Seal |
| Preceded by Unknown |
First Lord of Trade 1672 – 1676 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Bridgewater |
| Lord President of the Council 1679 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Radnor |
|
| Parliament of England | ||
| Preceded by Unknown |
Member for Wiltshire 1660 – 1661 |
Succeeded by Lord Charles Seymour |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by The Duke of Richmond |
Lord Lieutenant of Dorset 1672 – 1674 |
Succeeded by The Lord Poulett |
| Peerage of England | ||
| New creation | Earl of Shaftesbury 1672 – 1683 |
Succeeded by Anthony Ashley-Cooper |
| Baron Ashley 1661 – 1683 |
||
| Baronetage of England | ||
| Preceded by John Cooper |
Baronet (of Rockbourne) 1631 – 1683 |
Succeeded by Anthony Ashley-Cooper |
Annotations
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Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, later the first Earl of Shaftsbury, was a highly prominent politician (later he would found the Whig party). In American history he is probably best known as one of the Lords Proprietors of the Carolina colonies. (Some Charlestonians like to say they live where
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Cooper in February 1660
“Despite the fact that he had been pursued ardently by the Royalists in tempting correspondence, Ashley Cooper had continued to reject their overtures. He appeared deaf to the personal appeals of the King. He had been elected to the Council of State by the Rump, although he was of the majority of the Council who refused to accept the additional clause renouncing Charles Stuart, proposed by Desborough. But it was not until February 1660 that he allowed himself to be drawn into correspondence with the exiled court, as we know from Hyde’s complaint on the subject.
“When on 24 February Lady Willoughby de Broke told [Charles’s adviser and later Earl of Clarendon, Edward] Hyde that Ashley Cooper was ‘his Majesty’s fast friend’, Hyde replied tartly that this was the first he had heard of it.”
— Antonia Fraser, “Royal Charles: Charles II and the Restoration,” 1979, pp 170-1
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Character assassination by Bishop Gilbert Burnet (1643-1715).
A man of popular eloquence, who could mix the facetious and the furious way of arguing very agreeably, and who had got the art of governing parties, and making himself the head of them, just as he pleased. His religion was that of a deist at the best; he had the dotage of astrology in him to a great degree, and fancied that our souls, after death, lived in the stars. His learning was superficial. He understood little to the bottom; but his vanity in setting himself out was ridiculous and disgusting. His reasoning was loose, his discourse rambling, and he had a better way of bantering or bearing down an argument than he had in supporting it. After all, his chief strength lay in knowing mankind, their understandings and tempers, and applying himself to them so dexterously that though, by his changing sides so often, it was visible he was not to be depended on, nay, though he himself was not ashamed to recount the many turns he had made, and to value himself upon them, yet he still could create a dependence, and make himself the centre of any discontented party.
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From Tomalin.
“Another boy that grew up to influence Sam’s life, Anthony Ashley Cooper, was also living off Fleet Street, in Three Cranes Court, from 1631 to 1635…He lived as an orphan with his guardian, Sir Daniel Norton, who was in London during the law terms, from 1631,when he was 10 until he was 14 years old.
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As Lord Ashley, he became a member of the famous Cabal. He held the office of Lord High Chancellor from 1672 until 1673.
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Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Ashley-Cooper,_1st_Earl_of_Shaftesbury