Background
Anson was the eldest son of Thomas Anson, 1st Viscount Anson, and his wife Anne Margaret, daughter of Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester.
Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom
Anson was the eldest son of Thomas Anson, 1st Viscount Anson, and his wife Anne Margaret, daughter of Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester.
He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford.
He served under Lord Grey and Lord Melbourne as Master of the Buckhounds between 1830 and 1834 and under Melbourne Postmaster General between 1835 and 1841. His gambling and lavish entertaining got him heavily into debt and he was forced to sell off the entire contents of his Shugborough Hall estate. Major-General the Honorary
Anson was elected to the House of Commons for Great Yarmouth in June 1818, but had to resign the seat already the following month on the death of his father and his succession to viscountcy of Anson.
Anson later served under Lord Grey and Lord Melbourne as Master of the Buckhounds from 1830 to 1834 and under Melbourne as Postmaster General from 1835 to 1841. He was admitted to the Privy Council in 1830 and in 1831 he was created Earl of Lichfield, of Lichfield in the County of Stafford, in William IV"s coronation honours.
Anson was also known for his excessive gambling and lavish entertaining at his Shugborough Hall seat. He also purchased the estate at nearby Ranton, Staffordshire, where he built Abbey House and developed the estate into a great sporting centre.
However, his extravagant lifestyle and gambling put him and the family into debts of £600,000 and led to Anson"s financial collapse in 1842.
The entire contents of Shugborough Hall were sold off to pay for the debts. Abbey House at Ranton burned down in 1942. The ivy-covered ruins can still be seen.
Lord Lichfield married Louisa Catherine, daughter of Nathaniel Philips, in 1819.
Lady Lichfield died in August 1879. Lord Lichfield is buried at Street Michael and All Angels Church in Colwich, a short distance from Shugborough Hall.
6th United Kingdom Parliament.
