Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 8th Earl of Shaftesbury

Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 8th Earl of Shaftesbury Bt DL (27 June 1831 – 13 April 1886), styled Lord Ashley between 1851 and 1885, was a British peer. Ashley was the son of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury.

Career

He was commissioned a cornet in the Dorsetshire Yeomanry on 26 July 1856 and was promoted lieutenant on 21 January 1857. On 27 January 1857, he was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Dorset. He resigned his Yeomanry commission in April 1859. He was Member of Parliament for Kingston upon Hull from 1857 to 1859 and Cricklade from 1859 to 1865. He was a patron and member of the Society for the Suppression of the Opium Trade.

On 7 June 1858, he was commissioned a lieutenant in the Antrim Royal Rifle Regiment of Militia. On 16 March 1860, he was commissioned a lieutenant in the South Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps. He resigned his commission in the South Middlesex on 6 September 1860 to become a captain in the London Irish Volunteer Corps on 17 September.

On 7 September 1860, he was promoted to a captaincy in the Antrim Militia, which he resigned in early 1862. He resigned his commission in the London Irish Volunteer Corps on 1 April 1863. On 6 February 1862, he was promoted lieutenant-colonel of the Dorsetshire Regiment of Militia, a position he held until 1 June 1872.

On 12 May 1875, he was appointed lieutenant-commanding of the London Corps of Royal Naval Artillery Volunteers, and on 7 June 1880, he became honorary commander of the London Brigade, RNAV.

Family

Lord Shaftesbury married Lady Harriet Augusta Anna Seymourina Chichester (d. 14 April 1898), only daughter (and only surviving child) of George Chichester, 3rd Marquess of Donegall, on 22 August 1857. They had six children:

• Lady Margaret Ashley-Cooper (1858–1931), married Captain Theophilus Levett son of Theophilus John Levett MP.
• Lady Evelyn Ashley-Cooper (1865–1931), married firstly James McGarel-Hogg, 2nd Baron Magheramorne, and secondly Captain Hon. Hugo Baring (sixth son of the 1st Baron Revelstoke)
• Lady Mildred Ashley-Cooper (1867–1958), married Hon. George Allsopp.
• Lady Violet Ashley-Cooper (1868–1938), married Walter Erskine, 12th Earl of Mar.
• Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 9th Earl of Shaftesbury (1869–1961), married Lady Constance Grosvenor, elder daughter of Victor Grosvenor, Earl Grosvenor, eldest son of Hugh Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster
• Lady Ethel Maud Ashley-Cooper (1870–1945), married Sir George Warrender – she was known as Lady Maud Warrender, a singer and patron of music, and a personal friend of the composer Edward Elgar and his wife

In his father's lifetime, as Lord Ashley, he was a disappointing heir apparent, constantly running up debts with his extravagant wife.

Death

Lord Shaftesbury committed suicide six months after succeeding to the title.