Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 9th Earl of Shaftesbury KP GCVO CBE PC (31 August 1869 – 25 March 1961) was an English peer, soldier, and public servant.

[2] On 1 January 1913 he was promoted colonel in the Territorial Force[3] and appointed to command the 1st South Western Mounted Brigade;[4][5] he was granted the temporary rank of brigadier-general on the outbreak of war in 1914.

[6] Shaftesbury served through the First World War from 1914 to 1918,[7] and relinquished his appointment as a brigade commander on 1 March 1919, when he was granted the honorary rank of brigadier-general.

The 9th Earl of Shaftesbury and his wife, Lady Constance had five children: Lord Ashley was heir apparent to the earldom, scheduled to inherit upon the death of his father.

In 1978, Belfast City Council began a major refurbishment over a period of ten years at a cost of over two million pounds.

When the earl died in 1961, his grandson inherited the family's 17th-century home and large estate in Dorset, several other properties and a collection of art, antiques, and other valuables.