Background
Ashley was the third child and second son of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury and Lady Emily Cowper, eldest daughter of Peter Cowper, 5th Earl Cowper and sister of William Cowper-Temple, 1st Baron Mount Temple.
Ashley was the third child and second son of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury and Lady Emily Cowper, eldest daughter of Peter Cowper, 5th Earl Cowper and sister of William Cowper-Temple, 1st Baron Mount Temple.
He was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge.
He was private secretary to Lord Palmerston and later published a biography of him. After entering Parliament in 1874, Ashley served under William Ewart Gladstone as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade from 1880 to 1882 and as Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1882 to 1885. On William Cowper-Temple"s death in 1888, he inherited a 10,000 acre estate on the Mullaghmore peninsula in Sligo, based around Classiebawn Castle.
He would spend part of every year there.
Ashley was private secretary to Lord Palmerston from 1858 to 1865 and worked as a barrister on the Oxford Circuit from 1865 to 1874. He was also an Ecclesiastical and Church Estates Commissioner from 1880 to 1885 and a Verderer of the New Forest.
In 1891 he was sworn of the Privy Council. His publications include the Life of Lord Palmerston.
Ashley married Sybella Charlotte Farquhar, daughter of Sir Walter Farquhar, 3rd Baronet, on 28 July 1866.
They had two children:
Wilfred William Ashley, later Baron Mount Temple (13 September 1867 – 3 July 1939)
Lillian Blanche Georgiana Ashley (27 June 1875 – 14 September 1939), married Hercules Pakenham. Ashley died in November 1907, aged 71. Lady Alice Ashley died on 25 August 1931.
21st United Kingdom Parliament. 22nd United Kingdom Parliament]
He sat as Liberal Member of Parliament for Poole from 1874 to 1880 and for Isle of Wight from 1880 to 1885 and served under William Ewart Gladstone as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade from 1880 to 1882 and as Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1882 to 1885.
