On 1 October the church remembers Anthony Ashley Cooper (7th Earl of Shaftesbury), Philanthropist, Social reformer, Evangelical (1801-1885).

But who was Anthony Ashley Cooper?

Born in London in 1801, and educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford, Anthony Ashley Cooper had an intensely unhappy childhood. Abandoned by his parents to the care of servants, he was fortunate that his childhood nurse Maria Millis taught and nurtured him in the Christian faith.

His childhood experiences gave him a deep sympathy with the sufferings of poor and unwanted children, and his evangelical faith gave him the sense of duty to seek the path of serving suffering humanity rather than pursuing personal pleasure, as was the norm in the aristocracy at that time.

He had entered Parliament in 1826 as Conservative member first for Woodstock and from 1831 for Dorset, and on his father’s death in 1851 he entered the House of Lords as the seventh Earl of Shaftesbury.

Shaftesbury was far from pietistic in his clear evangelical faith, believing that ‘Christianity is not a state of opinion and speculation. Christianity is essentially practical.’ In Parliament he was an important force in early British reform legislation being responsible for numerous social reforms aiding factory workers, women and children in coal mines, the insane, chimney sweeps and poor children.

He regarded his parliamentary and social activities as his Christian duty.  His journals and diaries show that he was also a great man of prayer.  Here is one of his many written prayers:

God, the Father of the forsaken, the help of the weak, supplier of the needy; who hast diffused and proportioned thy gifts to body and soul, in such sort that all may acknowledge and perform the joyous duty of mutual service, who teachest us that love towards the race of men is the bond of perfectness, and the imitation of thy blessed self; open our eyes and touch our hearts, that we may see and do, both for this world and for that which is to come, the things which belong to our peace. Strengthen us in the work which we have undertaken; give us counsel and wisdom, perseverance, faith, and zeal, and in thine own good time, and according to thy pleasure, prosper the issue. Pour into us a spirit of humility. Let nothing be done but in devout obedience to thy will, thankfulness for thine unspeakable mercies, and love to thine adorable Son Christ Jesus, who with thee, 0 Father, and the Holy Ghost, ever liveth one God, world without end. Amen.

He took the trouble to find out for himself about the conditions of the poor, visiting slums and factories, going down mines and visiting asylums and schools. Outside of Parliament he was indefatigable in his support of Christian causes, being involved in the Ragged School Union, the British and Foreign Bible Society, the NSPCC, the London City Mission, and the Church Pastoral-Aid Society to name but a few. All this activity underpinned what he described as the ‘single object’ of his life – ‘the advancement of God’s ever blessed name, and the Temporal and eternal welfare of all mankind’.

Shaftesbury was related through marriage to Lord Palmerston, Prime Minster for all but fourteen months of the years from 1855 to 1865. Knowing little about the Church, Palmerston consulted Shaftesbury in all his ecclesiastical appointments in order to find suitable candidates for senior posts in the Church of England. Hostile to Tractarianism within the Church of England but not to Roman Catholicism.

Shaftesbury struck up a friendship with Cardinal Manning, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England. After Shaftesbury’s death Manning, on reading his biography, commented, ‘what a retrospect of work done. It makes me feel that my life has been wasted.’

Lord Shaftesbury died in 1885. His funeral was attended by the privileged and the poor, who lined the streets of London as his coffin passed.Refusing to allow a statue of himself, he is commemorated by the statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus, appropriately situated at the end of Shaftesbury Avenue.

This prayer is for those working for the poor and underprivileged:

O merciful God,
who hast compassion on all that thou hast made,
and hast enfolded thy whole creation in thy love:
help us to stand firm for thy truth, to strive against poverty,
and to share thy love with our neighbour,
that with thy servant Lord Shaftesbury, we may be instruments of thy peace;
through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

Revd Paul A. Carr and extract from ‘Saints on Earth: A biographical companion to Common Worship’ by John H Darch and Stuart K Burns