Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 10th Earl of Shaftesbury

He served as president of the Shaftesbury Society, pursuing the same goals of his second great grandfather, the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, who had founded the organisation as Ragged Schools in 1840.

He also served as the vice president of Sir David Attenborough's British Butterfly Conservation Society.

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.

He was the son of Major Lord Ashley and Françoise Soulier.

Lord Shaftesbury was the grandson of the 9th Earl of Shaftesbury.

Shaftesbury's father was the heir apparent to the earldom and its subsidiary titles, but he predeceased his father, the 9th Earl.

His death made his son next in the line of succession.

Anthony Ashley-Cooper was born on 22 May 1938 in London, England.

He was named after his father, as was tradition for firstborn sons in the Ashley-Cooper family.

His father, Major Anthony Ashley-Cooper, Lord Ashley, was the firstborn son of the 9th Earl of Shaftesbury.

Anthony's younger sister was Lady Frances Mary Elizabeth Ashley-Cooper (born 9 April 1940).

Ashley-Cooper was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford.

As a child, his primary pursuits outside of getting an education included mountain climbing and skiing.

Major Lord Ashley and Françoise remained married until his death in 1947.

On 8 March 1947, his father died unexpectedly of heart disease and Ashley-Cooper became heir to the titles held by his grandfather and acquired the courtesy title of Lord Ashley.

Lord Ashley's mother decided to move back to her native France with the children.

In August 1947, she remarried and settled in Paris.

The children spent the next few years shuttling across the English Channel to their boarding schools, Eton for Lord Ashley and Heathfield School in Ascot for his sister, Frances.

Holidays were alternately spent in France or with their grandparents at the Manor House in Wimborne St Giles.

He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Royal Armoured Corps, where he did his national service, on 29 June 1957.

On 29 October 1958, he was placed in the emergency reserve of the 10th Royal Hussars.

Lord Ashley was 22 years old when he succeeded his grandfather.

The 9th Earl of Shaftesbury, prior to his death, invested and arranged financial matters so that his heirs would avoid death duties.

When his grandfather died in 1961, Tony became the 10th Earl of Shaftesbury, Baron Ashley of Wimborne St Giles and Baron Cooper of Pawlett.

The 10th Earl of Shaftesbury was a wealthy landowner of over 9000 acre in East Dorset, and received honours and awards for his philanthropic and conservationist work, which included planting over a million trees in South West England.

He also expressed a love of music, which continued into adulthood with his service as chairman of the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 1966 to 1980.

By the 1990s, the wealth of the family estate remained well worth millions.

The Shaftesbury estate in East Dorset is the home base and centre of business of the Ashley-Coopers.

In addition to St Giles House, the family owns a large estate, including over 9000 acre, along with property, land, and loughs, that establishes them as one of the wealthiest families in the United Kingdom.

In November 2004, the 10th Earl of Shaftesbury went missing while in France, prompting an international police investigation.

His remains were found at the bottom of a remote ravine in the foothills of the French Alps five months after his death.

Investigations revealed that he was murdered by his brother-in-law during an argument regarding a divorce from his wife, Jamila M'Barek, both of whom were convicted of his murder.

When his grandfather died, the newly titled 10th Earl of Shaftesbury came into a vast fortune of the Shaftesbury estates and other properties, including the family's 17th-century home and large estate in Dorset, as well as residences in Hove, London, Versailles and the French Riviera.

Shaftesbury also inherited a collection of art, antiques, and other valuables worth over £3m.

The Ashley family arrived in Dorset, originally from Wiltshire, where they had owned the manor of Ashley since the 11th century.

The first ancestor to reside in Wimborne St Giles was Robert Ashley (born c. 1415), fifth great grandfather of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury.

The Ashleys and Ashley-Coopers have made Wimborne St Giles their home since the 15th century.

The small village of Wimborne St Giles rests within the family estate itself.

Notable among his ancestors were the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, a leader of the Whig party in Parliament, and the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, a 19th-century evangelical social reformer, who was honoured with the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain in London's Piccadilly Circus.

Ashley-Cooper's mother was the French-born Françoise Soulier, daughter of Georges Soulier of Caudebec-en-Caux, France.