Early life and first marriage, 1621–1640 in England. Anthony Ashley Cooper was born in Dorset in 1621, and he would maintain important links with the county throughout his political career. Cooper 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. He was born on 22 July 1621, at the home of his maternal grandfather Sir Anthony Ashley in
Wimborne St Giles, Dorset. He was named Anthony Ashley Cooper because of a promise the couple had made to Sir Anthony. where he studied under its master, the
Regius Professor of Divinity,
John Prideaux, a
Calvinist with vehemently anti-Arminian tendencies. through the influence of Lord Coventry. Little is known of Cooper's activities in the late 1640s. It is often assumed that he supported the
Presbyterians against the
Independents, and, as such, opposed the
regicide of Charles I in January 1649. at
Exeter House in London, where he served as consulting physician during several novel surgical procedures and recoveries. Beginning in 1667, Shaftesbury and Locke worked closely on the
Grand Model for the Province of Carolina and its centrepiece, the
Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina. When Southampton died in May 1667, Ashley, as under-treasurer, was expected to succeed Southampton as Lord High Treasurer. After the fall of Lord Clarendon in 1667, Lord Ashley became a prominent member of the
Cabal, in which he formed the second "A". As Lord Chancellor, he addressed the opening of a new session of the
Cavalier Parliament on 4 February 1673, calling on parliament to vote funds sufficient to carry out the war, arguing that the Dutch were the enemy of the monarchy and England's only major trade rival, and therefore had to be destroyed (at one point he exclaimed "
Delenda est Carthago"); defending the
Great Stop of the Exchequer; and arguing in support of the Royal Declaration of Indulgence. The
Letter argued that since the time of
the Restoration, "the High Episcopal Man, and the Old
Cavalier" (now led by Danby) had conspired to make "the Government
absolute and arbitrary." Danby's Test Oath proposal was merely the latest, most nefarious attempt to introduce divine right monarchy and episcopacy on the country. The Letter went on to describe the debates of the House of Lords during the last session, setting forth the arguments that Shaftesbury and other lords used in opposition to Danby and the bishops. This letter was published anonymously in November 1675, and quickly became a best-seller, in no small part because it was one of the first books ever to inform the public about the debates that occurred within the House of Lords. The government's case against Shaftesbury was particularly weak – most of the witnesses brought forth against Shaftesbury were witnesses whom the government admitted had already perjured themselves, and the documentary evidence was inconclusive. According to the provisions of his will, Shaftesbury's body was shipped back to
Dorset on 13 February 1683, and he was buried at
Wimborne St Giles on 26 February 1683. Shaftesbury's son,
Lord Ashley, succeeded him as Earl of Shaftesbury. ==Legacy==