Anthony Ashley Cooper, 4th Earl of Shaftesbury Bt PC FRS (9 February 1711 – 27 May 1771) was a British peer and philanthropist, who was one of the leading figures in the foundation of the colony of Georgia and served as Lord Lieutenant of Dorset from 1734 until his death.
[1] His father died in February 1713, leaving him fatherless in infancy, as well as heir to the family titles and estates.
The book was among the most influential of the British Enlightenment; historian Benjamin Rand described the 3rd Earl as the "greatest Stoic of modern times".
He had become well acquainted with Martyn, Secretary to the Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America, when he became a member of that organization at its first annual meeting in 1733.
[4][5] Shaftesbury was elected to the Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America in 1733, less than a year after the group was created by royal charter.