styled 1711-13 Ld. Ashley; suc. fa. 4 Feb. 1713 (a minor) as 4th earl of SHAFTESBURY
First sat 9 Feb. 1732; last sat 14 May 1770
b. 9 Feb. 1711, o.s. and h. of Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd earl of Shaftesbury and Jane, da. of Thomas Ewer of Bushey Hall, Herts. educ. New Coll. Oxf., matric. 1724. m. (1) 12 Mar. 1725, Susanna (d.1758), da. of Baptist Noel, 3rd earl of Gainsborough; (2) 1759, Mary, da. of Jacob Bouverie†, Visct. Folkestone, and sis. of William Bouverie†, earl of Radnor, 1s. d. 27 May 1771; will 17 Mar. 1769, pr. 8 June 1771.1
PC 1761.
Mbr. Common Council of Georgia, 1733; recorder, Shaftesbury 1756; high steward, Dorchester 1757; gov. Levant Co. 1766-d.
Brig. gen. Dorset Mil. 1761.
Ld. lt., Dorset 1734-d.
FRS 1754; FSA 1767.
Associated with: Wimborne St. Giles, Dorset; Grosvenor Square, London.
Succeeding to the earldom as a minor, Shaftesbury’s political and parliamentary career as a Whig in opposition to Robert Walpole, earl of Orford, will be examined in later phases of this work. Shaftesbury died on 27 May 1771 and was succeeded in the earldom by his son Anthony Ashley Cooper† as 5th earl of Shaftesbury.
B.A.- 1 TNA, PROB11/968.