Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 9th Earl of Shaftesbury
Lord Mayor of Belfast | |
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Spouse(s) | Lady Constance Sibell Grosvenor (1899–1957) |
Issue | Anthony Ashley-Cooper, Lord Ashley Mary Sturt, Baroness Alington Dorothea Head, Viscountess Head. Lady Lettice Ashley-Cooper Major Hon Anthony John Percy Hugh Michael Ashley-Cooper |
Parents | Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 8th Earl of Shaftesbury Lady Harriet Augusta Anna Seymourina Chichester |
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 9th Earl of Shaftesbury
Military career
Lord Shaftesbury was commissioned a
Political, civic and court offices
Lord Shaftesbury was
At the Court, Lord Shaftesbury served as Chamberlain to Mary of Teck as Princess of Wales 1901–1910 and as Lord Chamberlain to her as Queen of the United Kingdom 1910–1922. That year he was appointed Lord Steward of the Household, serving until 1936.
Lord Shaftesbury served as President of the Salisbury Diocesan Guild of Ringers from 1919-1960, the year before his death.
Family life
On 15 July 1899, the 9th Earl of Shaftesbury married
The 9th Earl of Shaftesbury and his wife, Lady Constance had five children:
- Major Anthony Ashley-Cooper, Lord Ashley (4 October 1900 – 8 March 1947).
- Lady Mary Sibell Ashley-Cooper (3 October 1902 – 2 August 1936) was married to Napier Sturt, 3rd Baron Alington of Crichel.
- Lady Dorothea Louise Ashley-Cooper (29 April 1907 – 1987) was married to Anthony Head, 1st Viscount Head.
- Lady Lettice Mildred Ashley-Cooper (12 February 1911 – 1990) Flight Officer W.A.A.F ; European War 1939–45 (despatches).
- Major Anthony John Percy Hugh Michael Ashley-Cooper (5 October 1915 – 1986) was married to Julian Petherick, by whom he had four daughters. He was regarded by many to be one of the greatest salmon anglers of the 20th century and wrote four books on the subject.
Lord Ashley was heir apparent to the earldom, scheduled to inherit upon the death of his father. However, at age 46, Ashley died unexpectedly of heart disease before succession. At that time, his son, Anthony Ashley-Cooper, became heir apparent, inheriting the earldom in 1961 upon the death of his grandfather.
Philanthropy and community service
Bryanston School
In 1928, the 9th Earl provided a financial grant to establish a
. The 9th Earl served the school as the first Chairman of the Governors.Bryanston School was founded by a young schoolmaster from Australia named J.G. Jeffreys. He used his confidence and enthusiasm to gain financial support for the school during a period of severe economic instability. With financial backing from the earl, he paid £35,000 for the Bryanston House and its 450 acres (1.8 km2) of immediate grounds.
The school occupies a palatial country house designed and built in 1889–1894 by Richard Norman Shaw and modelled on the chateau at Menars in the Loire valley. Shaw designed the house for Viscount Portman to replace an earlier one. The building and estate was the biggest in Dorset and the last of the grand stately homes to be built in England. The home had been occupied by the Portman family for 30 years at the time of its sale, however, death duties made it impossible for the 4th Lord Portman to hold on to his family estate.[9]
![Photo of Bryanston School](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/Bryanston_School_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1741983.jpg/300px-Bryanston_School_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1741983.jpg)
There were just seven teachers and 23 boys of various ages in the first term. Jeffreys was a natural innovator but one who respected good traditions, reflected in his choice of the school motto, Et Nova Et Vetera. His was the first English school to adopt the Dalton Plan, its combination of the new and the old being of particular appeal. The system was flexible enough to offer a combination of lessons in the classroom and time for assignment work in subject rooms, which gave the students freedom to decide which pieces of academic work to focus their attention on. Students were required to keep a daily record on a chart showing their use of working and leisure time, meeting with their tutors on a weekly basis to ensure effective monitoring of their progress.
Bryanston is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It has a reputation as a liberal and artistic school. The principles of the Dalton Plan are still in place today and remain central to the school's success.
Belfast Castle
The 9th Earl of Shaftesbury presented Belfast Castle to the City of Belfast in 1934. In 1978, Belfast City Council began a major refurbishment over a period of ten years at a cost of over two million pounds. The architect was the Hewitt and Haslam Partnership. The building officially re-opened to the public on 11 November 1988.
Honours
- 1901: Provincial Grand Master of the Provincial Gand Lodge of Antrim (1901–1921)[10]
- 1902: Provincial Grand Master of Freemasons in Dorset
- 1906: Knight of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO)
- 1911: Knight of the Order of St Patrick (KP) (At his death, he was the last living non-royal member of the Order of St. Patrick.)
- 1919: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)
- 1920: Younger Brother of the Trinity House
- 1921: Royal Household Long and Faithful Service Medal (King George V Version)
- 1922: Privy Counsellor
- 1924: Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO)
Death and burial
The 9th Earl of Shaftesbury died in 1961 aged 91. He was buried in the Parish Church at Wimborne St Giles near the family estate. The earl's titles passed to his 22-year-old grandson, Anthony Ashley-Cooper.
The 9th Earl had carefully arranged financial matters on the Shaftesbury Estate so that his heirs would avoid death duties. When the earl died in 1961, his grandson inherited the family's 17th-century home and large estate in Dorset, several other properties and a collection of art, antiques, and other valuables. By the 1990s the 10th Earl's wealth was said to be in the "low millions".
References
- ^ Pine, L. G. The New Extinct Peerage 1884–1971: Containing Extinct, Abeyant, Dormant and Suspended Peerages With Genealogies and Arms, London, U.K.: Heraldry Today, 1972, page 3
- ^ "No. 27415". The London Gazette. 11 March 1902. p. 1736.
- ^ "No. 28684". The London Gazette. 24 January 1913. pp. 591–592.
- Hart's Army List for 1914, p. 89.
- ^ "No. 28681". The London Gazette. 14 January 1913. p. 327.
- ^ "No. 28875". The London Gazette (Supplement). 20 August 1914. p. 6581.
- ^ Shaftesbury, Earl of (E, 1672) Archived 29 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine in Cracroft's Peerage. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
- ^ "No. 31241". The London Gazette (Supplement). 19 March 1919. p. 3717.
- ISBN 978-1-903942-38-3
- ^ Freemasonry in Northern Ireland 1748-1918, Samuel Leighton 1938
External links
- Alexander Thom and Son Ltd. 1923. pp. – via Wikisource. . . Dublin: