Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of

b. 1801; d. 1885

British politician, educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford. He entered Parliament as member for Woodstock in 1826. In 1834 he was made lord of the Admiralty. Reform in poor law, the treatment of lunatics, and the condition of factory operatives were subjects with which he was connected. Largely through his efforts a Ten Hours Bill was passed in 1847. He was the champion in Parliament of the movement for Ragged Schools and for nearly 40 years was chairman of the Ragged School Union. His was the influence behind Lord Palmerston's bill for the care and reformation of juvenile offenders. The Lodging House Act, which he piloted through the Upper House (he had succeeded to the earldom in 1851), was designed to improve the dwellings of the people; it was described by Charles Dickens as the best piece of legislation that ever issued from Parliament.

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