The Earl Stanhope | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Earl Stanhope byJohn Opie | |
| Member of Parliament forWycombe with Robert Waller | |
| In office 18 October 1780 – 1786 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas FitzMaurice |
| Succeeded by | Earl Wycombe |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 3 August 1753 |
| Died | 15 December 1816 (1816-12-16) (aged 63) |
| Political party | Whig |
| Spouse(s) | Lady Hester Pitt Louisa Grenville |
| Children | 6 |
| Parent(s) | Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl Stanhope Grizel Hamilton |
Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope, akaCharles Mahon, 3rd Earl Stanhope,FRS (3 August 1753 – 15 December 1816),[1] was a Britishstatesman, inventor, and scientist. He was the father ofLady Hester Stanhope and brother-in-law ofWilliam Pitt the Younger. He is sometimes confused with an exact contemporary of his,Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Harrington.
The son ofPhilip Stanhope, 2nd Earl Stanhope, he was educated atEton and theUniversity of Geneva. While inGeneva, he devoted himself to the study of mathematics underGeorges-Louis Le Sage, and acquired fromSwitzerland an intense love of liberty.[2]
In politics he was a democrat. As Lord Mahon he contested theWestminster without success in 1774, when only just of age; but from the general election of 1780 until his accession to the peerage on 7 March 1786 he represented through the influence ofLord Shelburne theBuckinghamshire borough ofHigh Wycombe. During the sessions of 1783 and 1784 he supportedWilliam Pitt the Younger, whose sister, Lady Hester Pitt, he married on 19 December 1774.[2] He was close enough to be singled out for ridicule in theRolliad:
When Pitt strayed from theLiberal principles of his early days, his brother-in-law severed their political connection and opposed the arbitrary measures which the ministry favoured. Lord Stanhope's character was generous, and his conduct consistent; but his speeches were not influential.[2]
He was the chairman of the "Revolution Society," founded in honour of theGlorious Revolution of 1688; the members of the society in 1790 expressed their sympathy with the aims of theFrench Revolution. In 1794 Stanhope supportedThomas Muir, one of the Edinburgh politicians who were transported toBotany Bay; and in 1795 he introduced into theLords a motion deprecating any interference with the internal affairs of France. In all these points he was hopelessly beaten, and in the last of them he was in a "minority of one"—a sobriquet which stuck to him throughout life—whereupon he seceded from parliamentary life for five years.[2]
Stanhope was an accomplished scientist. This started at theUniversity of Geneva where he studied mathematics underGeorges-Louis Le Sage. Electricity was another of the subjects which he studied, and the volume ofPrinciples of Electricity which he issued in 1779 contained the rudiments of his theory on the "return stroke" resulting from the contact with the earth of the electric current of lightning, which were afterwards amplified in a contribution to thePhilosophical Transactions for 1787. He was elected a fellow of theRoyal Society so early as November 1772, and devoted a large part of his income to experiments in science and philosophy. He invented a method of securing buildings from fire (which, however, proved impracticable), the first ironprinting press, a method to produce plaster molds of pages to be printed and then cast solid metal printing plates from them (stereotype matrix and stereotype plate),[3] and thelens, all of which bear his name, as well as amonochord for tuning musical instruments, improvements in canal locks, experiments in steam navigation in 1795–1797, and twocalculating machines[2] (first in 1775).[4] He was a member of theAmerican Philosophical Society, elected in 1774.[5]
When he acquired extensive property inDevon, Stanhope projected a canal through that county from theBristol to theEnglish Channel and took the levels himself.
His principal labours in literature consisted of a reply toEdmund Burke'sReflections on the French Revolution (1790) and anEssay on the rights of juries (1792), and he long meditated the compilation of a digest of the statutes.[2]
Stanhope was elected a member of theAmerican Antiquarian Society in 1816.[6]
Stanhope married twice. Firstly on 19 December 1774 to LadyHester Pitt (19 October 1755 – 20 July 1780), daughter ofWilliam Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham ("Pitt the Elder"),Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, by whom he had three daughters:
Secondly in 1781 he marriedLouisa Grenville (1758–1829), daughter and sole heiress of the Hon.Henry Grenville (Governor of Barbados in 1746 and ambassador to theOttoman Porte in 1762), he was the younger brother ofRichard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple, and of George Grenville. Her mother was Margaret Eleanor Banks. She survived him and died in March 1829.[2] By her he had three sons:[7]
Lord Stanhope died at the family seat ofChevening, Kent, and was succeeded by his eldest who shared much of his father's scientific interest but is known also for his association withKaspar Hauser. His monument at Chevening was sculpted byJosephus Pinnix Kendrick.[8]
Stanhope Stereotype Printing.
Charles Stanhope calculator 1775.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Stanhope, Earls".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 773–775.| Parliament of Great Britain | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forWycombe 1780–1786 With:Robert Waller | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of Great Britain | ||
| Preceded by | Earl Stanhope 1786–1816 | Succeeded by |
