Giles, Dorset, on 26 February 1671. His childhood was strange by any day's standard; at the age of four he was legally adopted and brought up by his grandfather, the first earl (1621-1683). For several years later he remained in the large house for the most part alone, as his grandfather was so very wrapped up in politics, to put it mildly. A remarkable tutor, Elizabeth Birch, well versed in both Latin and Greek, had been chosen for him by John Locke, and continued to supervise his training both in Dorset and later in Clapham for at least six years. Locke, who was secretary to the first earl, tends to dominate Lord Ashley's childhood no matter which way one looks at it. Ashley was even convinced that Locke had chosen his mother, Lady Dorothy Manners, daughter of the earl of Rutland, to be his father's wife, and certainly he did make all arrangements for the wedding; as a physician he gave advice to the young mother, and saw that her son was brought up according to his own well-known humane principles for education of the young. Because in this period Locke was very busy with his work for the first earl, and was further plagued by illness, which forced him to travel to the Continent, most of his efforts for Lord Ashley were by indirection, through Mrs.
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