Anthony Ashley-Cooper, Lord Ashley,

OStJ The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (french: l'ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem) and also known as St John International, is a British royal order of c ...

, TD, DL (4 October 1900 – 8 March 1947), was a British Army officer. As the eldest son of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 9th Earl of Shaftesbury (his mother was Shaftesbury's wife Lady Constance Sibell Grosvenor), he used the courtesy title "Lord Ashley".

Family life

Ashley was married first to Sylvia Hawkes. They were married on 3 February 1927 and divorced 28 November 1934. Lord Ashley shocked London society by marrying Hawkes, an English model and actress from the

chorus line A chorus line is a large group of dancers who together perform synchronized routines, usually in musical theatre. Sometimes, singing is also performed. Chorus line dancers in Broadway musicals and revues have been referred to by slang terms ...

. They were divorced after she began an affair with American actor Douglas Fairbanks Sr., who was named as co-respondent in the petition for divorce. Lord Ashley's second wife was the French-born Françoise Soulier (1914–1999), daughter of Georges Soulier of

Caudebec-en-Caux Caudebec-en-Caux (, literally ''Caudebec in Caux'') is a former commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Rives-en-Seine. Geography Caudebec-en- ...

, France. Lord Ashley and Soulier were married on 31 March 1937 and remained married until his death in 1947. Their two children were: *

Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 10th Earl of Shaftesbury } Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 10th Earl of Shaftesbury Bt (22 May 1938 – c. 5 November 2004), styled Lord Ashley between 1947 and 1961, and Earl of Shaftesbury from 1961 until his death, was a British peer from Wimborne St Giles, Dorset, England. H ...

(22 May 1938 – c. 5 November 2004) * Lady Frances Mary Elizabeth Ashley-Cooper (born 9 April 1940). Lord Ashley was

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

to the earldom of Shaftesbury throughout his life. On 8 November 1943, his father appointed him a deputy lieutenant of Dorset. However, at age 46, Ashley died unexpectedly of heart disease before his father, making his son, also named Anthony Ashley-Cooper, heir apparent, inheriting the earldom in 1961 upon the death of his grandfather, the 9th Earl of Shaftesbury.

Military service

Lord Ashley was a cadet in the Eton College contingent of the

Officers' Training Corps The Officers' Training Corps (OTC), more fully called the University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC), are military leadership training units operated by the British Army. Their focus is to develop the leadership abilities of their members whilst ...

. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 94th (Dorset & Somersetshire Yeomanry) Field Brigade, Royal Artillery, on 26 June 1925. On 1 May 1926, he transferred to the

Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry (RWY) was a Yeomanry regiment of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom established in 1794. It was disbanded as an independent Army Reserve (United Kingdom), Territorial Army unit in 1967, a time when t ...

with the same rank. Lord Ashley was promoted to lieutenant on 12 March 1929. Soon after, on 25 May 1929, he was seconded away from the regiment to serve, from 19 August, as an aide-de-camp to Sir Frederick Sykes, Governor of Bombay, and restored to the establishment on 19 April 1930. He was restored to his unit on 2 May 1931. Lord Ashley was promoted to captain on 26 June 1937, and to major on 5 March 1938. On 5 January 1940, he was removed from the Wiltshire Yeomanry and placed on the general list of Yeomanry officers. Major Lord Ashley was transferred to the Intelligence Corps on 22 July 1940, having requested to serve as a captain during World War II. He served with the Auxiliary Units, which were highly covert Resistance groups trained to engage and counteract the expected invasion of the United Kingdom by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. Members of the Auxiliary Unit were stationed in covert hidden bunkers scattered throughout Great Britain. While Major Lord Ashley was trained at

Coleshill House Coleshill House was a country house in England, near the village of Coleshill, Oxfordshire, Coleshill, in the Vale of White Horse. Historically, the house was in Berkshire but since boundary changes in 1974 its site is in Oxfordshire. The buil ...

near

Highworth Highworth is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Swindon, England, about northeast of Swindon town centre. The 2011 Census recorded a population of 8,151. The town is notable for its Queen Anne and Georgian buildings, dating ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, specific details regarding his assignments and operational base remain classified. On 18 December 1941, he was transferred to the Territorial Army reserve of officers for the

Royal Armoured Corps The Royal Armoured Corps is the component of the British Army, that together with the Household Cavalry provides its armour capability, with vehicles such as the Challenger 2 Tank and the Scimitar Reconnaissance Vehicle. It includes most of the ...

, Royal Tank Regiment. He was posthumously awarded the

Efficiency Decoration The Efficiency Decoration, post-nominal letters TD for recipients serving in the Territorial Army of the United Kingdom or ED for those serving in the Auxiliary Military Forces, was instituted in 1930 for award to part-time officers after twe ...

in 1947.

Order of St John

On 24 December 1943, Lord Ashley was appointed an

Officer of the Order of St John The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (french: l'ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem) and also known as St John International, is a British British monarchy ...

(OStJ).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashley-Cooper, Anthony 1900 births 1947 deaths Deputy Lieutenants of Dorset People educated at West Downs School People from Dorset 10th Royal Hussars officers Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry officers Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst British Army personnel of World War II British courtesy barons and lords of Parliament Heirs apparent who never acceded Officers of the Order of St John Ashley-Cooper family Officers' Training Corps officers Royal Tank Regiment officers Intelligence Corps officers