View source for Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope

{{Short description|British scientist (1753–1816)}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}

{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name                = The Earl Stanhope
| honorific-suffix    = [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]]
| image               = Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope by John Opie.jpg
| caption             = Portrait of Earl Stanhope by [[John Opie]]
| office1             = [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Wycombe (UK Parliament constituency)|Wycombe]] <br /> with Robert Waller
| term_start1         = 18 October 1780
| term_end1           = 1786
| predecessor1        = [[Thomas FitzMaurice (MP)|Thomas FitzMaurice]]
| successor1          = [[John Petty, 2nd Marquess of Lansdowne|Earl Wycombe]]
| birth_date          = 3 August 1753
| death_date          = {{d-da|15 December 1816|3 August 1753}}
| spouse              = Lady Hester Pitt <br /> Louisa Grenville
| children            = 6
| parents             = [[Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl Stanhope]]<br />Grizel Hamilton
| party               = [[Whigs (British political party)|Whig]]
}}

'''Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope''', aka '''Charles Mahon, 3rd Earl Stanhope''', [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] (3 August 1753{{snd}}15 December 1816),<ref>''The Register of Births & Baptisms in the Parish of St James within the Liberty of Westminster Vol. IV. 1741-1760''. 29 August 1753.</ref> was a British [[wikt:statesman|statesman]], inventor, and scientist. He was the father of [[Lady Hester Stanhope]] and brother-in-law of [[William Pitt the Younger]]. He is sometimes confused with an exact contemporary of his, [[Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Harrington]].

==Early life==
The son of [[Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl Stanhope]], he was educated at [[Eton College|Eton]] and the [[University of Geneva]].  While in [[Geneva]], he devoted himself to the study of mathematics under [[Georges-Louis Le Sage]], and acquired from [[Switzerland]] an intense love of liberty.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=774}}

==Politics==
[[Image:3rdEarlStanhope.jpg|thumb|200px|Lord Stanhope]]
In politics he was a democrat. As Lord Mahon he contested the [[Westminster (UK Parliament constituency)|Westminster]] 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 of [[Lord Shelburne]] the [[Buckinghamshire]] borough of [[Wycombe (UK Parliament constituency)|High Wycombe]].  During the sessions of 1783 and 1784 he supported [[William Pitt the Younger]], whose sister, Lady Hester Pitt, he married on 19 December 1774.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=774}} He was close enough to be singled out for ridicule in the ''[[Rolliad]]'':

:——This Quixote of the Nation
:Beats his own Windmills in gesticulation;
:To ''strike'', not ''please'', his utmost force he bends,
:And all his sense is at his fingers' ends, &c. &c.

When Pitt strayed from the [[Liberalism in the United Kingdom|Liberal]] 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.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=774}}

He was the chairman of the "Revolution Society," founded in honour of the [[Glorious Revolution]] of 1688; the members of the society in 1790 expressed their sympathy with the aims of the [[French Revolution]].  In 1794 Stanhope supported [[Thomas Muir (radical)|Thomas Muir]], one of the Edinburgh politicians who were transported to [[Botany Bay]]; and in 1795 he introduced into the [[British House of Lords|Lords]] 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.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=774}}

==Business, science and writing==
[[Image:Iserlohn-Druckpresse1-Bubo.JPG|thumb|left|200px|{{center|Stanhope printing press}}]] 
Stanhope was an accomplished scientist.  This started at the [[University of Geneva]] where he studied mathematics under [[Georges-Louis Le Sage]]. Electricity was another of the subjects which he studied, and the volume of ''Principles 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 the ''Philosophical Transactions'' for 1787. He was elected a fellow of the [[Royal 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 iron [[printing 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),<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vfK3BGlbxVkC|quote=Stanhope Stereotype Printing.|title=Typographia|last=Hansard|first=Thomas Curson|date=1825|publisher=Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=vfK3BGlbxVkC&pg=PA848]|language=en}}</ref> and the [[Stanhope lens|lens]], all of which bear his name, as well as a [[monochord]] for tuning musical instruments, improvements in canal locks, experiments in steam navigation in 1795–1797, and two [[calculating machine]]s{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=774}} (first in 1775).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/milestonesincomp0000reil|url-access=registration|quote=Charles Stanhope calculator 1775.|title=Milestones in Computer Science and Information Technology|last=Reilly|first=Edwin D.|date=2003|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=9781573565219|pages=[https://archive.org/details/milestonesincomp0000reil/page/244 244]|language=en}}</ref> He was a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]], elected in 1774.<ref>{{cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=stanhope&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |website=search.amphilsoc.org |access-date=25 June 2021}}</ref>

When he acquired extensive property in [[Devon]], Stanhope projected a canal through that county from the [[Bristol Channel|Bristol]] to the [[English Channel]] and took the levels himself.

His principal labours in literature consisted of a reply to [[Edmund Burke]]'s ''Reflections on the French Revolution'' (1790) and an ''Essay'' on the rights of juries (1792), and he long meditated the compilation of a digest of the statutes.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=774}}

Stanhope was elected a member of the [[American Antiquarian Society]] in 1816.<ref>[http://www.americanantiquarian.org/memberlists American Antiquarian Society Members Directory]</ref>

==Marriages and children==
Stanhope married twice. Firstly on 19 December 1774 to Lady [[Hester Stanhope, Viscountess Mahon|Hester Pitt]] (19 October 1755{{snd}}20 July 1780), daughter of [[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham]] ("Pitt the Elder"), [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]], by whom he had three daughters:
*[[Lady Hester Stanhope|Lady Hester Lucy Stanhope]] (1776–1839) a traveller and [[Arabist]] who died unmarried at the age of 63 in [[Syria]].{{CN|date=December 2024}}
*Lady Griselda Stanhope (21 July 1778{{snd}}13 October 1851), wife of John Tekell.{{CN|date=December 2024}}
*Lady Lucy Rachel Stanhope (20 February 1780{{snd}}1 March 1814){{CN|date=December 2024}} who eloped with Thomas Taylor of [[Sevenoaks]], the family apothecary, following which her father refused to be reconciled to her; but Pitt made her husband Controller-General of Customs and his son was one of the Earl of Chatham's executors.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=774}}
Secondly in 1781 he married [[Louisa Stanhope, Countess Stanhope|Louisa Grenville]] (1758–1829), daughter and sole heiress of the Hon. [[Henry Grenville]] ([[Governor of Barbados]] in 1746 and ambassador to the [[Ottoman Porte]] in 1762), he was the younger brother of [[Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple]], and of George Grenville. Her mother was Margaret Eleanor Banks. She survived him and died in March 1829.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=774}}  By her he had three sons:<ref name="DNB">{{cite DNB|wstitle=Stanhope, Charles (1753-1816)|last=Courtney|first=William Prideaux|authorlink=|volume=54}}</ref>

*[[Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl Stanhope|Philip Henry Stanhope, 4th Earl Stanhope]] (1781–1855),{{CN|date=December 2024}} eldest son and heir, who inherited many of his father's scientific tastes.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=774}}
*Maj. Hon. Charles Banks Stanhope (3 June 1785{{snd}}16 January 1809), aide-de-camp to [[John Moore (British Army officer)|John Moore]]. He was killed at the [[Battle of Corunna]]<ref name="DNB" />
*Lt Col Hon. [[James Hamilton Stanhope]] (1788–1825) captain and lieutenant-colonel of the [[Grenadier Guards|1st Foot Guards]].<ref name="DNB" />

==Death and succession==
[[File:Chevening.jpg|thumb|[[Chevening|Chevening House]], Kent]]
Lord Stanhope died at the family seat of [[Chevening]], Kent, and was succeeded by his eldest who shared much of his father's scientific interest but is known also for his association with [[Kaspar Hauser]]. His monument at Chevening was sculpted by [[Josephus Pinnix Kendrick]].<ref>Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 by Rupert Gunnis p.226</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Stanhope, Earls|volume=25|pages=773-775}}
*Michael Kassler, 'Earl Stanhope's "Letter-Music"' and 'Stanhope's Novel Musical Instruments' in Michael Kassler (ed.), The Music Trade in Georgian England, Farnham, Ashgate, 2011, pp.&nbsp;389–449

== Bibliography ==
*{{Citation  | author-link=Thomas Thomson (chemist) | last = Thomson | first = T. | title =Biographical account of Lord Stanhope | journal =[[Annals of Philosophy]] | year =1818  | pages= 81–85| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=nhcAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA81  | publisher= Robert Baldwin}}

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{{succession box | title=Member of Parliament for [[Wycombe (UK Parliament constituency)|Wycombe]] 
 | with = [[Robert Waller (Chipping Wycombe MP)|Robert Waller]] | years=1780–1786 | before=[[Robert Waller (Chipping Wycombe MP)|Robert Waller]]<br />[[Thomas FitzMaurice (MP)|Hon. Thomas FitzMaurice]] | after=[[Robert Waller (Chipping Wycombe MP)|Robert Waller]]<br />[[John Petty, 2nd Marquess of Lansdowne|Earl Wycombe]]}}
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{{succession box | before=[[Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl Stanhope|Philip Stanhope]] | title=[[Earl Stanhope]] | years=1786–1816 | after=[[Philip Henry Stanhope, 4th Earl Stanhope|Philip Henry Stanhope]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanhope, Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl}}
[[Category:1753 births]]
[[Category:1816 deaths]]
[[Category:British scientists]]
[[Category:18th-century British scientists]]
[[Category:19th-century British inventors]]
[[Category:Earls Stanhope]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies|Mahon, Charles Stanhope, Viscount]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:Stanhope family|Charles]]
[[Category:People from Chevening, Kent]]
[[Category:International members of the American Philosophical Society]]
[[Category:Younger sons of earls]]