In the preface to this three-volume work of 1886, Edwin Hodder (1837–1904) writes that the seventh earl of Shaftesbury 'resisted every appeal that was made to him to allow his biography to be written'. In the end, he succumbed to the inevitable, and co-operated with Hodder, a professional author, sharing with him both his archives and his memories. Anthony Ashley-Cooper (1801–85) was an evangelical Christian with a profound sense of the duty owed by the aristocracy to their country and to the less fortunate. He first came to prominence as the leader of the parliamentary campaign for shorter working hours, which led to the Factory Act of 1833. Entering the House of Lords on his father's death, he extended his activities, becoming the best-known philanthropist of his age. Volume 2 covers the period from 1844 to 1855, including the Irish Famine and the outbreak of the Crimean War.
