Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 5th Earl of Shaftesbury

Who was Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 5th Earl of Shaftesbury?

Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 5th Earl of Shaftesbury FRS was a British peer.

Ashley-Cooper was the son of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 4th Earl of Shaftesbury and Mary Pleydell-Bouverie. He was educated at Winchester and served as Deputy Lieutenant of Dorset. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1785.

Lord Shaftesbury married Barbara Webb, daughter of Sir John Webb, 5th Baronet and Mary Salvain, of Odstock House, Wiltshire, on 17 July 1786. His only child, a daughter, was Lady Barbara Ashley-Cooper, who married the Baron de Mauley.

Lord Shaftesbury died on 14 May 1811 at age 49 and was buried at St Giles Parish in Wimborne St Giles in Dorset. On his death, having no male heir, the title passed to his younger brother, the Honourable Cropley Ashley-Cooper.