Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 54.djvu/27

 the following year he was placed on a commission to 'stay from execution all felons (except for wilful murder, rape, and burglary) and to commit them to serve in the gallies.' On 24 Sept. he was elected knight of the shire of Nottingham. His offices were regranted him on the accession of James I, and he was one of the commissioners appointed to treat of a union between England and Scotland. On 10 March 1603–4 he was returned to parliament for Newtown, Isle of Wight, and by letters patent dated 4 May 1605 he was created Baron Stanhope of Harrington. He was made member of the council of the Virginia Company on 23 May 1609, and in 1615 was one of the privy councillors who signed the warrant for the application of torture to Edmond Peacham [q.v.] He resigned the treasurership of the chamber in 1616, and died on 9 March 1620–1.

Stanhope was twice married: first to Joan, daughter of William Knollys, by whom he had no issue; and secondly, on 6 May 1589, to Margaret, daughter of Henry MacWilliams, one of the queen's gentlemen pensioners. By her he had issue one son, Charles, born in 1593, who succeeded as second baron, but died without issue in 1675, when the title became extinct, and two daughters: Elizabeth, who married. Sir Lionel Talmash or Tollemache, ancestor of the earls of Dysart: and Catherine, who married Robert, viscount Cholmondeley (afterwards created Earl of Leinster). The later peers of the Stanhope family descend from the first baron's brother, Thomas.

[Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1581–1620; Hatfield MSS. pts. iv–vi.; Winwood's Memorials, ii. 57, 59; Collins's Letters and Mem. of State, vols. i. and ii. passim; Off. Ret. of Members of Parl.; Lords' and Commons' Journals; D'Ewes's Journals; Strype's Works; Spedding's Letters and Life of Bacon, vols. ii. iv. v. and vi.; Thoroton's Nottinghamshire; Alexander Brown's Genesis U.S.A.; Cornelius Brown's Nottinghamshire Worthies; Peerages by Collins (iii. 308–9 and G. E. C[okayne].]

 STANHOPE, LEICESTER FITZGERALD CHARLES fifth (1784–1862), born at Dublin on 2 Sept. 1784, was the third son of Charles Stanhope, third earl of Harrington [q. v.], and brother of Charles, fourth earl. He entered the army in September 1799 as a cornet in the 1st life-guards. In March 1803 he exchanged into the 9th foot. On 31 March of the same year he returned to the cavalry branch as captain in the 6th light dragoons, and exchanged into the 6th dragoon guards in November. In 1807 he served in South America, and was present at the attack on Buenos Ayres. In July 1816 he attained the rank of major in the 47th foot, and on 24 April 1817 was appointed deputy quartermaster-general in India. During the Mahratta war of 1817–18 he took part in the action at Maheidpore and the storming of Talnier. For his services during the campaign he was created C.B. on 14 Oct. 1818. In June 1823 he was placed on half-pay with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He became full colonel in January 1837.

Stanhope had other interests than those of his profession. He held advanced views in politics, and accepted Bentham as his master. While in India he took a prominent part in support of the Marquis of Hastings's administration, and on his return to England warmly defended him before the court of proprietors at the India House. In 1823 he justified Lord Hastings's removal of the censorship of the press in British India in 'A Sketch of the History and Influence of the Press in British India,' dedicated to Earl Grey.

In September 1823 Stanhope's offer to go to Greece as agent of the English committee in aid of the Greek cause was accepted by their secretary, John (afterwards Sir John) Bowring. On his way he succeeded in dissuading the Greek committees in Germany and Switzerland from withdrawing their help, and in Italy interviewed many persons acquainted with the condition of Greece. In November he met Byron in Cefalonia. On 12 Dec. he had a conference with Mavrocordato at Missolonghi, representing to him the fatal effects of disunion among the Greeks. At Missolonghi Stanhope set on foot a Greek newspaper, and, by means of the funds that he at once raised, prevented the Greek fleet from dispersing, formed an artillery corps, and purchased a house and grounds for a laboratory. On 5 Jan. Byron joined him, but they did not work well together. Unlike Byron, Stanhope was in favour of the establishment of a Greek republic, and, although he professed neutrality, showed more sympathy with Odysseus, the leader of the western Greeks, than with Byron's friend Mavrocordato and the eastern Greeks. To bring the two parties into closer union, Stanhope arranged a conference at Salona. It opened on the 21st, but neither Byron nor Mavrocordato attended. During Stanhope's stay at Salona Byron died, and Stanhope himself was ordered home by the English war office, owing to complaints of his conduct on the part of the Turkish government. After organising a postal service between Greece