Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl Of Shaftesbury

Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury (28 April 1801 – 1 October 1885), was a British politician, philanthropist, and social reformer. He was born in London as the eldest son of the 6th Earl of Shaftesbury and Lady Anne Spencer, daughter of the 4th Duke of Marlborough. His younger brother was Henry Ashley, Member of Parliament.

He was styled Lord Ashley from 1811 until he inherited the earldom in 1851. Ashley received his education at Manor House School in Chiswick, London (1812–1813), Harrow School (1813–1816), and Christ Church, Oxford. At Oxford, he achieved first-class honours in classics in 1822, earned an MA in 1832, and was awarded a Doctor of Civil Law (DCL) in 1841. During his time at university, he joined the Apollo University Lodge.

Ashley’s early family life was marked by emotional distance; G. F. A. Best noted that Ashley grew up without parental love, seeing little of his parents, who were described as formal and frightening when they did take notice of him. He disliked his father and referred to his mother as "a devil." His upbringing was softened by the affection of Maria Millis, the family housekeeper, and his sisters. Millis exemplified Christian love, which inspired much of Ashley’s later social activism and philanthropy. She provided him with biblical stories and prayers, shaping his ethical outlook.

His schooling at Manor House was described by Ashley as harsh and cruel, with episodes of starvation and mistreatment. As a teenager, he converted to Christianity and developed awareness of social issues. Two formative experiences at Harrow School influenced his outlook: witnessing a pauper’s funeral with drunken pallbearers, which exposed him to social callousness, and his engagement with a Latin poem about the Duck Puddle, an unsanitary pond on school grounds, which he used to advocate for reforms.

In politics, Ashley was first elected as a Conservative (Tory) Member of Parliament for Woodstock in June 1826, representing a pocket borough controlled by the Duke of Marlborough. He supported the Duke of Wellington and declined a government position under Prime Minister George Canning, citing allegiance and personal qualification concerns.

In 1827, Ashley was appointed to the Select Committee on Pauper Lunatics in Middlesex and Lunatic Asylums. He visited the Bethnal Green madhouse "White House," where patients were chained, chained, and kept in inhumane conditions. This exposure led to legislative efforts to reform lunacy laws. Ashley supported the County Lunatic Asylums Act 1828 and the Madhouses Act 1828, which established licensing and inspection procedures for asylums, and appointed commissioners including Ashley himself.

Throughout his career, Ashley championed the improvement of lunacy laws. He sponsored amendments in 1845 to better regulate asylums and establish an ongoing Lunacy Commission, with himself as chairman. In these efforts, he highlighted cases such as Mary Jones, a girl detained in a cramped and unsanitary room for over a decade.

In 1851, following the death of his father, he became the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury and by 1858, served as the chief witness before a Select Committee investigating the detention of sane persons in lunatic asylums. He opposed making certification of insanity more difficult and advocated for early treatment, citing that unwarranted detention was rare.

In 1877, Shaftesbury appeared before the Select Committee on the Lunacy Laws, expressing concern over potential abuses in the detention of the sane. His dedication to social reform was characterized by years of advocacy, legislative initiative, and personal conviction aimed at improving conditions within mental health institutions and advancing social justice.