James Annesley, 2nd Earl of Anglesey FRS (c. 1645 – 1 April 1690), styled Lord Annesley from 1661 to 1686, was a British peer.
He was the son of Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey and Elizabeth Altham. He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford University, on 4 December 1661.
He married Lady Elizabeth Manners, daughter of John Manners, 8th Earl of Rutland and Frances Montagu, on 17 September 1669. They had children:
He died intestate and the administration of his estate in England and Ireland, with a value estimated at £4,000 per annum, was granted to his widow on 6 June 1690.
He was briefly a Whig member of parliament for County Waterford in 1666, after his brother-in-law, Richard Power succeeded in his father's (Irish) peerage.[1] He was elected to the English seat of Winchester in the parliaments of May and October 1679, and again in 1681. He was a Justice of the Peace for Hampshire and Surrey (1674–81), colonel of the Hampshire militia (1675–81), Custos Rotulorum of Hampshire(1675–81) and a Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire (1680–81).[1]
On 6 April 1686 Annesley succeeded to his father's peerages of Baron Mountnorris and Earl of Anglesey, in Wales [E., 1661], Baron Annesley, of Newport Pagnel, Buckinghamshire [E., 1661] and Viscount Valentia.[2] [3]