Anson was the son of William Anson (1656–1720) and Isabella Carrier, sister-in-law to the Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield. Upon his father"s death Anson abandoned law and began the first of many travels to the continent as was then the fashion for young men of fortune and taste.
Anson went up to Street John"s College, Oxford, and later studied law at the Inner Temple.
The family estate was Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire. In 1732 Anson and his friend the Earl of Sandwich formed a riotous dining-club called the Society of the Dilettanti which also had the more serious purpose of encouraging study of Greek architecture. Anson left them in order to travel to Egypt.
This qualified him for the Egyptian Society and the Divan Society, the latter being a wild drinking-club of which Lord Dashwood and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu were avid members.
He was elected to the House of Commons for Lichfield in 1747, a seat he held until 1770. In 1748 Anson was sent to Versailles by Lord Sandwich with secret correspondence for the Duc de Choiseul and Madame de Pompadour.
In 1762 he succeeded to the vast fortune of Spanish treasure amassed by his admiral-brother. This enabled him to further indulge his passion for architecture at Shugborough.
Anson filled Shugborough with paintings, books and objets d"art and had Vasalli paint allegories upon the ceilings.
The park was strewn with temples and follies, inlcluding the mysterious Shepherd"s Monument, the Pagoda, Pigeon House and the Tower of the Winds. The park has been described by some as a metaphor for Lord Anson"s circumnavigation of the globe. Others contend that it enagages aspects of many cultures both as a tribute to Admiral Anson"s voyage and as a representation of Thomas Anson"s interest in syncretic philosophies.
Anson died unmarried in March 1773.
Royal Society; 11th Parliament of Great Britain. 10th Parliament of Great Britain. 12th Parliament of Great Britain.
13th Parliament of Great Britain]
Anson and another member of the Society of the Diletantti rebuilt the house in the Greek revival style that the pair were championing in England.
