General Notes

I04991
Name: George Ashley COOPER , Earl of Shaftsbury
Sex: M
Birth: 22 JUL 1621 in Wimborne, St. Giles, Dorsetshire, England
Death: 28 JUN 1682
Father: John of Rockburne COOPER b: 1598 in Wimborne,St.
Giles,Dorset,England
Mother: Anne Elizabeth ASHLEY b: 1602 in Rockburne, England
Marriage 1 Elizabeth OLDFIELD b: 16 JUL 1625 in London, England
Married: ABT. 1645 in Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire, England
Children
James COOPER b: 16 MAY 1661 in Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire, England
George Cooper the brother of Anthony Ashley Cooper, though he was rather
quiet and did not use the Ashley Cooper name but only the Cooper. He
married Elizabeth Oldfield, the daughter of a wealthy London baker, and
had his residence in Clarence Park near Salisbury. He served briefly in
Parliament but business seems to have agreed with him better than
politics. He had large interests in Barbados and Bermuda, spent some time
in Holland and died Jan 28, 1681/2.
Anthony Ashley Cooper mentions his brother in a diary.
The Coopers likely were descendants of a retainer who came over from
France with William the Conqueror. At that time the name was Coupard,
actually a title, meaning something like "Keeper of the Locks and
Barrels." It was similar to Steward, which became heriditary with the
Scots.
The Cooper DNA tests point to an origin in Iberia or North Africa, and
many branches are Jewish right down to the present. James probably was a
secret practicer of Judaism to some degree, under the guise of Quakerism.
Here is a story about Anthony Ashley Cooper that tends to confirm the
Cooper family's Jewish roots. He told a lady at a party,"Men of sense
never argue about religion." Lady: "And pray what religion do you belong
to, Sir Anthony?" "Madame, men of sense never say."