(c.1695 - 1773), e. s. of William Anson of Shugborough, Staffs; St John's Oxf. 1711; I.Temple, called 1719; suc. fa. 1720; Dilettanti 1736; MP 1747 - 70; unm.
1724 - 5 [Spa Jul. 1723] Padua (by 15 Sep. 1724), Rome ( - 4 Apr. 1725), Naples (Apr. - May), Rome ( - 21 May), Florence
Thomas Anson spent a large part of his early life abroad. In July 1723 he was with William Mytton and Simon Degge in Spa.1 He was recorded at Padua with Alan Brodrick in September 1724.2 In April 1725 he set out from Rome to Naples with Simon Degge and Thomas Kemp, and in May he left Rome with Degge for Florence.3 Anson later travelled further afield, apparently visiting the Levant in 1734 and the Middle East in 1740.4
In 1762 he inherited a considerable fortune from his younger brother, the naval hero and circumnavigator, George, 1st Baron Anson, who had died a widower. Thomas then embellished Shugborough with the help of James 'Athenian' Stuart and acquired works of art from Italy; some of his correspondence concerning such purchases from Sir John Dick, Thomas Jenkins, Bartolomeo Cavaceppi and Joseph Nollekens, survives in the Anson papers.5
1. HMC Polwarth, 3:281. 2. Brown 1758. 3. Rawlinson jnl.MSS. 4. See J. Lees-Milne, Connoisseur, 164[1967]:211. 5. Staffs. RO, d615/p(a)/2. J. Lees-Milne, Connoisseur, 165[1967]:4 - 11. Michaelis, 70.