SHAFTESBURY, ANTHONY ASHLEY COOPER, 1ST EARL OF, ...

born July 22, 1621, Wimborne St. Giles, Dorset, Eng. died Jan. 21, 1683, Amsterdam, Neth. also called (from 1631) Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, 2nd Baronet English politician, a member of the Council of State (165354; 1659) during the Commonwealth, and a member of Charles II's Cabinet Council and lord chancellor (167273). Seeking to exclude the Roman Catholic duke of York (the future James II) from the succession, he was ultimately charged with treason. Though acquitted, he fled into exile. Additional reading K.H.D. Haley, The First Earl of Shaftesbury (1968), is an attempt to demonstrate a consistency of political outlook throughout Shaftesbury's various changes in his career. An earlier biography is Louise Fargo Brown, The First Earl of Shaftesbury (1933). Hester Chapman, Four Fine Gentlemen (1977), includes a vivid, well-researched short biography of Shaftesbury.