page_title: Anson family
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Anson family / History
caption_attribution_description: George Anson, 1st Baron Anson (1697–1762)
context_page_description: The Anson family is a British aristocratic family. Over time, several members of the Anson family were made knights, baronets and peers. Hereditary titles held by the Anson family include the earldom of Lichfield and the Anson baronetcy. Over time, several members of the family have risen to prominence, including Admiral of the Fleet George Anson, 1st Baron Anson, PC, FRS and the society photographer Patrick Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield.
context_section_description: The Anson family is descended from George Anson (1731-1789), a Member of Parliament for Lichfield from 1770 to 1789. Born George Adams, he was the son of Sambrooke Adams and his wife Janette Anson, sister of the famous naval commander Admiral Lord Anson. In 1773, on the death of his uncle Thomas Anson, a brother of Admiral Lord Anson, he succeeded to the substantial estates accumulated by his uncles, including Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire. The same year George Adams assumed by Royal Licence the surname of Anson in lieu of Adams. In 1831, two of his sons would be elevated to hereditary titles: his  eldest son, Thomas, would be made a viscount, while the latter's brother, William, would be made a baronet (see Anson Baronets).
  George Anson's aforementioned eldest son was Thomas Anson, 1st Viscount Anson (1767–1818), who represented Lichfield in the House of Commons as a Whig from 1789 to 1806 until he was raised to the peerage on 17 February 1806 as Baron Soberton, of Soberton in the County of Southampton, and Viscount Anson, of Shugborough and Orgreave in the County of Stafford, both in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. He was succeeded by his eldest son Thomas (1795–1854), who became the 2nd Viscount. He was a landowner and Whig politician who served as Master of the Buckhounds from 1830 to 1834 and as Postmaster General from 1835 to 1841. In 1831 the 2nd Viscount Anson was created Earl of Lichfield, of Lichfield in the County of Stafford, in William IV's coronation honours. This was the third creation of the title of Earl of Lichfield, but the first in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. 
  The titles associated with the earldom of Lichfield continued to descend from father to son until the death of the 4th Earl in 1960. He was succeeded by his grandson, the 5th Earl, the only son of Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas William Arnold Anson, Viscount Anson (1913–1958), eldest son of the 4th Earl. Known professionally as Patrick Lichfield, he was a successful photographer.  As of 2010 the titles are held by the 6th Earl, only son of the 5th Earl and Lady Leonora Grosvenor, daughter of the 5th Duke of Westminster. He succeeded as the 6th Earl of Lichfield upon his father's death on 11 November 2005. The 6th Earl married in December 2009 Lady Henrietta Conyngham, daughter of Henry Conyngham, 8th Marquess Conyngham. They have one son, Thomas Ossian Patrick Wolfe Anson, Viscount Anson (b. 20 May 2011).
caption: Portrait of Admiral of the Fleet George Anson, 1st Baron Anson (1697–1762), by Thomas Hudson
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