Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey PC (10 July 16146 April 1686) was an Anglo-Irish royalist statesman. After short periods as President of the Council of State and Treasurer of the Navy, he served as Lord Privy Seal between 1673 and 1682 for Charles II. He succeeded his father as 2nd Viscount Valentia in 1660, and he was created Earl of Anglesey in 1661. Early life Annesley was born in Dublin, Ireland to Francis Annesley, 1st Viscount Valentia, and his first wife Dorothy, daughter of Sir John Philipps, Bt, of Picton Castle. He was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, from which he graduated in 1634 as a Bachelor of Arts; that year, he was admitted into Lincoln's Inn. Having made the grand tour he returned to Ireland; and being employed by Parliament on a mission to the Duke of Ormonde, now reduced to the last extremities, he succeeded in concluding a treaty with him on 19 June 1647, thus securing the country from complete subjection to the rebels. In April 1647 he was returned for Radnorshire to the House of Commons. He supported the parliamentarians against the republican or army party, and may have been one of the members excluded in prides purge during 1648, though some sources claim he wasn't. As a moderate and a presbyterian, he was highly sceptical of the army's decisions towards the end of the war. He did support Oliver Cromwell however, though at this time Cromwell wasn't as powerful as he would later become as Lord Protector, as the new model army was under the command of Lord Fairfax. His loyalty to Cromwell may have allowed him to retain his seat in parliment after the events of 1648. He sat in Richard Cromwell's parliament for Member of Parliament for Dublin City, and endeavoured to take his seat in the restored Rump Parliament of 1659. He was made President of the Council of State in February 1660, and in the Convention Parliament sat for Carmarthen. The anarchy of the last months of The Protectorate converted him to royalism, and he showed great activity in bringing about the English Restoration. He used his influence in moderating measures of revenge and violence, and while sitting in judgement on the regicides was on the side of leniency. He was sworn of the Privy Council on 1 June and in November he succeeded his father as Viscount Valentia in