Earl Stanhope (pronounced "Stannup") was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1718 for James Stanhope, 1st Viscount Stanhope, the principal minister of King George I, with remainder to the heirs male of his body. Stanhope was the son of the Hon. Alexander Stanhope, fifth and youngest son of Philip Stanhope, 1st Earl of Chesterfield. He had already been created Viscount Stanhope, of Mahon in the Island of Minorca, and Baron Stanhope, of Elvaston in the County of Derby, in 1717, with remainder, failing heirs male of his body, to his second cousin John Stanhope of Elvaston (who was the father of William Stanhope, 1st Earl of Harrington) and the heirs male of his body. These titles were also in the Peerage of Great Britain.
Lord Stanhope's grandson, the third Earl, was a politician and scientist, known as "Citizen Stanhope" because of his sympathy for the French revolution. He was succeeded by his son, the fourth Earl. He represented several constituencies in the House of Commons but is chiefly remembered for his involvement in the Kaspar Hauser case. His son, the fifth Earl, was a Tory politician and historian. He served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and also published a biography on William Pitt the Younger. On his death the titles passed to his son, the sixth Earl. He was a Conservative politician and served briefly as a Lord of the Treasury from 1874 to 1875 in Benjamin Disraeli's second administration. Lord Stanhope was also Lord Lieutenant of Kent.
His son, the seventh Earl, was also a Conservative politician and notably served as President of the Board of Education, as Leader of the House of Lords and as First Lord of the Admiralty. In 1952 Lord Stanhope succeeded his distant relative Edward Henry Scudamore-Stanhope, 12th Earl of Chesterfield, as thirteenth Earl of Chesterfield and 13th Baron Stanhope. However, he never applied for a writ of summons to the House of Lords in these titles and continued to be known as the Earl Stanhope. On his death in 1967 the earldoms of Stanhope and Chesterfield and barony of Stanhope became extinct. However, he was succeeded in the viscountcy of Stanhope of Mahon and barony of Stanhope of Elvaston according to the special remainder by his kinsman William Stanhope, 11th Earl of Harrington.
The heir apparent to the Earls Stanhope used the courtesy title Viscount Mahon.
Philip Stanhope, 1st Baron Weardale, was a younger son of the fifth Earl.
Read more about Earl Stanhope: Viscounts Stanhope, of Mahon (1717), Earls Stanhope (1718)
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“Without any extraordinary effort of genius, I have discovered that nature was the same three thousand years ago as at present; that men were but men then as well as now; that modes and customs vary often, but that human nature is always the same. And I can no more suppose, that men were better, braver, or wiser, fifteen hundred or three thousand years ago, than I can suppose that the animals or vegetables were better than they are now.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)