Lord anthony ashley cooper biography

English politician and founder of the Whig party (1621-1683)

Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of ShaftesburyPC, FRS (22 July 1621 – 21 January 1683), was an English statesman and peer.

He held senior political office under both the Commonwealth of England and Charles II, serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1661 to 1672 and Lord Chancellor from 1672 to 1673. During the Exclusion Crisis, Shaftesbury headed the movement to bar the Catholic heir, James II, from the royal succession, which is often seen as the origin of the Whig party.

Lord anthony ashley cooper biography

He was also a patron of the political philosopher John Locke, with whom Shaftesbury collaborated with in writing the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina in 1669.

During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, Shaftesbury initially supported the Royalists, before switching to the Parliamentarians in 1644.

He served on the English Council of State under the Commonwealth, although he opposed Oliver Cromw