The first creation, in the Peerage of England, was in December 1645 by King Charles I for his 4th cousin Charles Stewart (1639–1672), whose youngest uncle Lord Bernard Stewart (1623-26 September 1645) (youngest son of Esmé Stewart, 3rd Duke of Lennox), had been due to be created Earl of Lichfield by Charles I for his actions at the battles of Newbury and Naseby but died aged 22 in the Battle of Rowton Heath before the creation could be implemented.

On 15 April 1661, following the Restoration of the Monarchy, he was invested by King Charles II with the Order of the Garter.

One of his wives was Frances Teresa Stuart, the celebrated beauty and alleged former mistress of King Charles II.

The second creation, in the Peerage of England, came in 1674 when King Charles II bestowed the titles of Baron Spelsbury, Viscount Quarendon and Earl of Lichfield upon Sir Edward Lee, 5th Baronet, of Quarendon (1663–1716) in anticipation of his marriage to the king's illegitimate daughter Charlotte Fitzroy, whose mother was Barbara Villiers.

He represented Oxfordshire in the House of Commons and served as Captain of the Honourable Band of Gentlemen Pensioners from 1762 to 1772.

Admiral Anson, the 1st Earl of Lichfield and others are buried at St Michael and All Angels Church in Colwich, a short distance from Shugborough Hall.

The 2nd, 3rd and 4th Earl and other Ansons of Shugborough after 1854 were buried in the churchyard of St Stephen's Church in Great Haywood.

The earldom of Lichfield continued to descend within the Anson family from father to son until the death of the 4th Earl, in 1960.