 1621 - 1684 (62 years)
-
| Name |
Anthony Ashley Cooper [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10] |
| Birth |
22 Jul 1621 |
Wimbourne, Saint Giles, , Dorset, England  [1, 2, 3, 6, 7] |
| Christening |
3 Aug 1621 |
Wimbourne, Saint Giles, , Dorset, England [9] |
| Gender |
Male |
| College |
24 Mar 1636 |
Oxford, , England [10] |
| Burial |
1684 |
Dorset, England |
| Death |
22 Jan 1684 |
Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands [1, 2, 3, 5, 6] |
| Notes |
- Anthony and George were twins.
The 1st Earl of Shaftesbury Anthony Ashley-Cooper was married three times:
1. Margaret COVENTRY (produced no children);
2. Lady Frances CECIL (produced one child)
son: 2nd Earl of Shaftesbury Anthony Ashley-Cooper b 1652 (from which the peerage descends);
3. Margaret Spencer (produced no children);
In addition, the 1st earl fathered twin daughters by Miss MASSIE (first name unknown)
Lucretia Ashley-Cooper b bet 1647/1656 in Rockbourne, Southampton, Hampshire, England
Sarah Penelope Ashley-Cooper b bet 1647/1656 in Rockbourne, Southampton, Hampshire,England
Sarah Penelope later was married to Mr. Peter Massey of Coddington, Cheshire, England.
Together, Peter and Sarah Penelope (Ashley-Cooper) Massey had several known children of which two include:
1. Sarah Penelope Massey b abt 1670 in St Peter's Parish, New Kent County, Virginia
2. Lucretia Massey b 1677 in St Peter's Parish, New Kent County, Virginia
Sarah Penelope Massey married William Johnston b 1677 in Craig, Aberdeen, Scotland
Lucretia Massey married William's brother, John Johnston, Sr. b 1675 in Craig, Aberdeen,Scotland
1st Earl of Shaftesbury.
Royalist then Parliament the Royalist.
English House of Commons Short Parliament - 1640, blocked from entering Long Parliament 1660-1661.
English Law Commission, 1652.
English Court of State - 1655; resigned to protest Oliver Cromwell's Dictatorship.
Helped restore King Charles II to the throne, 1659-1660.
English Commission to try regicides, 1660.
English Chamber of Exchequer, 1661-1672; advocated religious toleration.
Baron Ashley, 1661-1683; Carolinas Proprietor, 1663-1683.
English Lord Chancellor, 1672.
English Lord Lieutenant of Dorset, 1667-1674.
Earl of Shaftsbury and Baron Cooper of Pawlett, 1672-1683.
First Lord of Trade, 1672-1676: President of Council, 1676.
Opposed succession of James Duke of York for Catholic sentiments; arrested and sent to Tower, 1680-1681; released and fled to Netherlands, 1681-1683.
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury (July 22, 1621-Ja nuary 21, 1683), known as Sir Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 2nd Baronet, from 1631 to 1661 and as The Lord Ashley from 1661 to 1672, was a prominent English politician of the Interregnum and during the reign of King Charles II.
Early Life
Cooper, born in Dorset, suffered the death of both his parents at a young age. He was the eldest son and successor of Sir John Cooper, 1st Baronet, of Rockbourne in Hampshire, and his mother was the former Anne Ashley, daughter and sole heiress of Sir Anthony Ashley, 1st Baronet (d. 1628), of Wimborne St Giles in Dorset, Secretary-at-War in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. He was raised by relatives and family friends, while being subjected to financial mulcting through the Court of Wards. He inherited his father's Baronetcy in 1631. Educated largely by Puritan tutors, he attended Exeter College, Oxford. While there he fomented a minor riot and left without taking a degree; nevertheless, he was admitted into Gray's Inn.[1]
MP
Sir Anthony was elected to the Short Parliament for the borough of Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, where his family owned land. He was elected to the Long Parliament for Poole in his native Dorset. But Denzil Holles, soon to rise to prominence as a leader of the opposition to the King and a personal rival of Sir Anthony, blocked his admission to the Parliament. It was probably feared that Sir Anthony, as a result of his recent marriage to the daughter of Charles I's Lord Keeper, Coventry, would be too sympathetic to the king.
When the Civil War began, Sir Anthony supported the King (somewhat echoing Holles's concerns), but changed sides soon afterward, citing the King's policies as being "destructive to religion and State". He eventually joined Cromwell's Council of State, but resigned in 1655, protesting against Cromwell's dictatorial politics. Four years later, George Monck, a prominent royalist military officer, recruited Cooper in the Restoration of Charles II.
Restoration
In October 1660, shortly after the Restoration's success, Sir Anthony was on the commission that controversially tried the Regicides (those who had participated in the trial and execution of Charles I). The commission eventually found ten surviving members guilty, and another four were posthumously convicted (their bodies were exhumed and hung publicly). One year later, he was created Baron Ashley, of Wimborne St Giles in the County of Dorset, and appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer.
In that position, Lord Ashley served on the Clarendon Ministry as one of its less prominent members; he frequently quarrelled with the head of government, Lord Clarendon, especially upon matters of religious toleration (which Ashley supported but Clarendon opposed). In 1663, Ashley was one of eight Lords Proprietors given title to a huge tract of land in North America, which eventually became the Province of Carolina. Ashley probably collaborated with John Locke to write the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina. Both the Ashley River and the Cooper River and the Ashley Cooper Waterfall in South Carolina and Australia were named after Lord Ashley.
In 1666, he met John Locke. Cooper had come to Oxford seeking treatment for a liver infection. Cooper was impressed with Locke and persuaded him to become part of his retinue. Locke had been looking for a career and in 1667 moved into Shaftesbury's home at Exeter House in London, ostensibly as the household physician. Shaftesbury's liver infection became life-threatening. Locke coordinated the advice of several physicians and was probably instrumental in persuading Shaftesbury to undergo an operation (then life-threatening itself) to remove the cyst. Shaftesbury survived and prospered, crediting Locke with saving his life.
After the fall of Lord Clarendon in 1667, Lord Ashley became a prominent member of the Cabal, in which he formed the second "A". Ashley became Lord Chancellor in 1672, and was created Earl of Shaftesbury and Baron Cooper, of Pawlett in the County of Somerset. He was also appointed First Lord of Trade. He served as Chancellor for one year, but remained First Lord of Trade until 1676.
Due to his intriguing with the Duke of Monmouth against the succession of the Catholic Duke of York, Shaftesbury fell from favour, and became a leader of the radical Whigs. In 1681, Shaftesbury was charged with high treason, but the charges were later dismissed. Nonetheless, he fled to the Netherlands, where he died two years later.
The Massies (or Masseys in England) also had come from France with William the Conqueror and settled in the northwest in Cheshire at the family seat of Dunham Massey. Through several generations of heirs, all named Hamon Massey, the family established itself as a power broker in that area. Peter's branch, however, had relocated to Coddington, Cheshire nearer the coast along the River Mersey.
Penelope's background provides murky, but intriguing material, based on family legends.
Penelope is recalled as the illegitimate daughter of Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper (1621-1683), the Earl of Shaftesbury who was prominent in the development of the Carolina colonies. In the contest for English rule, he sided with the royalists until 1644, served on Oliver Cromwell's council of state until 1654 and then switched again to the side of those seeking a restoration of the Crown with King Charles II, which occurred in 1660.
Named a baron in 1661, Sir Anthony became chancellor of the exchequer of England and was granted, with a handful of other nobles, ownership of colonial Carolina (then undivided). He commissioned his friend and the noted philosopher John Locke to write a constitution for the colony, which was rapidly populating as numerous families migrated from the English Caribbean colony of Barbados to the American mainland.
He and his allies founded the Whig movement in England and dominated Parliament for several sessions. Sir Anthony became lord chancellor and president of the King's privy council, but was deposed in 1679 and died shortly thereafter in Holland.
Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper was born to Sir John Cooper and Lady Anne Ashley, an heiress whose father required that his family name pass on as the surname of her descendants. (Indeed, the given name of Ashley was common among branches of the Johnsons in America.)
Although he sired only one legitimate son despite three marriages, Sir Anthony was known to have several bastard children. The mother of Penelope has been the subject of speculation, but no proof. Even less well conceived are the logistical problems of connecting Penelope from London to the relatively provincial outpost of Coddington and the Massies. One theory posits that the natural mother of Penelope was a Massie relative. It is not known whether Peter, for example, was schooled or spent time in the English capital, which would have given him the opportunity to meet and court Penelope, assuming she lived there.
|
| Person ID |
I19077 |
McKenzie Genealogy |
| Last Modified |
26 Aug 2012 |
| Father |
John Cooper, b. 1598, Wimbourne, Saint Giles, , Dorset, England d. 23 Mar 1631, Rockburn, Sham, Dorset, England (Age 33 years) |
| Relationship |
natural |
| Mother |
Ann Ashley, b. 1602, Winbourne, St Giles, Dorset, England d. 20 Jul 1628, Wimbourne, Saint Giles, , Dorset, England (Age 26 years) |
| Relationship |
natural |
| Marriage |
1 Jan 1617 |
Dorset, England [11] |
| Family ID |
F08788 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family 1 |
Massey d. UNKNOWN |
| Children |
| | 1. Lucretia Ashley Cooper, b. Between 1647 and 1656, Rockbourne, Southampton, Hampshire, England d. UNKNOWN [Father: natural] [Mother: natural] |
| | 2. Sarah Penelope Ashley Cooper, b. Between 1647 and 1656, Rockbourne, Southampton, Hampshire, England d. UNKNOWN [Father: natural] [Mother: natural] |
|
| Family ID |
F08893 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
25 Apr 2011 |
| Family 2 |
Margaret Coventry, b. 1624, England d. 10 Jul 1649, England (Age 25 years) |
| Marriage |
25 Feb 1639 |
England [4, 12] |
| Children |
| | 1. Lucretia Ashley Cooper, b. 1639, Sham, Dorset, , England d. 1686, England (Age 47 years) [Father: natural] [Mother: natural] |
|
| Family ID |
F08894 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
21 May 2011 |
| Family 3 |
Frances Cecil, b. 14 Jun 1633, St. George, Stamford, Lincolnshire, England d. 31 Dec 1652, Wimbourne, Saint Giles, , Dorset, England (Age 19 years) |
| Marriage |
25 Apr 1650 |
St Ann Blackfriars, London, England [12] |
| Children |
| | 1. Cecill Cooper, b. 1650, England d. UNKNOWN [Father: natural] [Mother: natural] |
| | 2. Anthony Ashley Cooper, b. 16 Jan 1651, Shaftsbury, Dorset, England d. 10 Nov 1699, Dorset, England (Age 48 years) [Father: natural] [Mother: natural] |
|
| Family ID |
F08895 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
21 May 2011 |
| Family 4 |
Margaret Spencer, b. 1626, Brington, , Northampton, England d. 1693, Covent Garden, London, Middlesex, England (Age 67 years) |
| Marriage |
12 Aug 1655 |
St. Andrew, Holborn, Camden, London, England [4, 12, 13] |
| Family ID |
F08896 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
20 Jul 2012 |
-
| Sources |
- [S005095] Dictionary of National Biography, Volumess 1- 20, 22.
- [S004717] Chalmers' General Biographical Dictionary, www.ancestry.com.
QUAY 3
- [S004047] Biography & Genealogy Master Index (BGMI), www.ancestry.com.
QUAY 3
- [S003856] Beeler-Cooper Family Tree.
- [S005803] Family Data Collections - Deaths, (Edmund West, comp.. Family Data Collection - Deaths [database on-line]. Provo, UT: The Generations Network, Inc., 2001.).
- [S005780] Edmund West, comp., Family Data Collection - Individual Records, (Name: Name: Name: Provo, UT: The Generations Network, Inc., 2000;;;).
- [S005797] Family Data Collections - Births.
- [S005974] Family History: VA Genealogies #3, 1600s-1800s, (Family History: VA Genealogies #3, 1600s-1800s
Virginia Colonial Abstracts, Volume III, Huntington Library Data
BR Misc File).
- [S005258] Dorset, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812, (Ancestry.com. Dorset, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 [database on-line]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.).
- [S004360] Joseph Foster (editor), British History Online, Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714.
- [S012013] U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900, (U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 [database on-line]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.).
ancestry.com
- [S013664] Walter and Annie Hussey Canaday Tree, www.ancestry.com.
QUAY 3
- [S007776] London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812.
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