Shaftesbury, 7th Earl of (1801-1885) Also known as: Ashley-Cooper, Anthony (1801-1885)

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Mentioned in (7)
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The Subtle Problems of Charity, February 1899

Mary Ellen Richmond to Jane Addams, 1902

Address to the Francis W. Parker School, March 27, 1907

Charity and Social Justice, May 19, 1910

Charity and Social Justice, May 19, 1910

Charity and Social Justice, June 11, 1910

Pioneers in Sociology, June 7, 1928

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Birth Date

1801-04-28

Death Date

1885-10-01

Birthplace

London, England

Biographical Text

Lord Anthony Ashley-Cooper was born to Cropley Ashley-Cooper, the 6th Earl of Shaftesbury. He was educated at Manor House school and Harrow School, and then studied classics at Christ Church, Oxford, where he received first class honors in 1822, his Master's in 1832, and was appointed DCL in 1841. In 1826, Ashley was elected to be the Tory Member of Parliament for the Woodstock borough, where he was appointed to four parliamentary committees, including the Selected Committee on Pauper Lunatics in the County of Middlesex and on Lunatic Asylums. As a member of this committee, Ashley visited various asylums, including one owned by Dr. Warburton, where he witnessed horrific conditions, leading to increased government regulation of asylums through the County Lunatic Asylums (England) Act of 1828 and the Madhouses Act of 1828. In 1845, Ashley sponsored two more Lunacy Acts, becoming the chairman of the newly established Lunacy Commission. Ashley also worked towards child labor reform, introducing the Ten Hours Act of 1833, stating that children working in the cotton and wool industries must be nine years old or older and that children under the age of eighteen could not work for more than ten hours a day. This act passed but lowered the age from eighteen to thirteen. Ashley also worked towards passing a Factory Act, introduced the Mines and Collieries Act of 1842, and supported the Chimney Sweepers Regulation Acts of 1864 and 1875. He was also the president of the Ragged School Union, the British and Foreign Bible Society, and the Society for the Suppression of the Opium Trade. In 1851, Ashley became Lord Shaftesbury, the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, after the death of his father

Ashley married Lady Emily Caroline Catherine Frances Cowper in 1830, and they had ten children together. Ashley died in 1885.