Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 1 Vol 7.djvu/236

 234 STANHOPE. (Hen. and second in command at the siege of Barcelona, which surrendered, fl Oct. 1705 ; was Envoy to Charles III. of Spain, 1706, and Com. in Chief of the British forces there, 1708-10, effecting (conjointly with Sir John Leake) in Sep. 1708 the capture of the celebrated port of Mahonf) ill the bland of Minorca, ('') and having become Lieut. Gen. in the army, 1 Jan. 1701', gained the victories of AlmetiaraC 1 ) (where he was slightly wounded). 27 July, and of Saragossa, 20 Aug. 1710, taking possession of Madrid. 21 Sep. following. Three months later, however, he was forced to capitulate at Rrihuega to the Duke of Vendome, the French General. As to his political career, he was M.P. for Newport (Isle of Wight). 1701-2; for Cockermouth. 1702, 170f>, 1708, and 1710-13; for Wendover, 1718-15 ; and for Newport (again), 171- r >-!7: P.C.. 1711; Sec. of State for the South,)' 1 ), 1714-17; First Lord of the Treasury [Print Minister) and Chancellor of the Exchequer, April 1717 to March 1718, being cr, 3 July 1717, BARON STAN- HOPE OK KLVASTON. co. Derby, an 1 VlSCOl'NT STANHoPE OF MAIIOX,(«) in the island of Minorca, with a spec. rein, failing heirs male of his body, to those of "John .Stanhope of Klvastoii. Baq., decd."( f ) Sec. of State for the South (for the second time), March 1718, till his death ; being cr. I I April 1718, EARL STN'1T0PK,(S| with, in this case, the ordinary rem. to heirs male of the body. Ambassador to Paris and Madrid, June to Sep. 171S, and to Berlin, July 1720, having been one of the Lords Justices (Kegents) of the realm, 9 May to 14 Nov. 171!', and 15 June to 10 Nov. 1720, during the King's absence from England. He M. 24 Feb. 1712/3, Lucy yst da. of Thomas PITT, of Hlandford, co. Dorset, Guv. of Fort St. George in India, by Jane, da. of James Inxis, of Rcid Hall, co. Moray. He d. of apoplexy, aged about 17 at his house by the Cockpit in Whitehall, 5 aud was bur. 17 Feb. 1720/1, with considerable state, at Cheveuiug, co. Keut('') Admon. (") " MaHos was not forgotten when ten i/erns after its conquest Stanhope was promoted to an Earldom, and we may reckon it as amoug the curious vicissitudes of human affairs that the name, first given by a Carthaginian chief, Mago, the brother of Hannibal, should now be borne by the eldest son of an English Peer." [Earl Stanhope's " Uitt. of Emjland. 1701 — 1713."] ( b ) Philip Stanhope, his yr. far., Commander of the Milford man-of-war, was slaia in the attack on St. Philip's Castle, Minorca, 28 Sep. 1708. ( c ) In this fight " the two chiefs, closing together, engaged in single combat, and Stanhope, raising his sword, hewed down Ainezaga [Gen. of the Spanish Cavalry], who fell dead from his horse." [Stanhope's " Uittorg," as in note "a'' above.] ( d ) This appointment he owed entirely to Townshend and YValpola who relied con- fidently on him as against the schemes of the Earl of Sunderland, by whom, how- ever, Stauhope was gained over, but '* at what precise period or by what inducement cannot be positively ascertained." [Coxc's " Walpolc."] (o) See vol. i, p. 79, note "a," sub "Amherst," for peerage titles commemorative of some victory. C) This John was his second cousin, both being great grandsons, tho' by ditlereut wives, of Sir John Stanhope, of Shelford, who d. 1610. There were then three sons living of the first-named John, viz. (1) Thomas Stanhope, of Elvaston, M.P. for Derby, who d. s.p., 10 April 1730 (2) the Kt. Hon. Charles Stanhope, Sec. to the Treasury, who d. unm., 17 March 1760, aged 87, and (3) William, cr. in 1730 Rarou aud in 1742 Earl of Harrington, with which Earldom consequently the Viscountcy of Stanhope of JIahou would, on failure of the issue male of the grantee, become united. The four yr- brothers of the grantee had all d. unm., two of them v. p., before 1707 ; Philip at Minorca in 1708 (see note " b " above), and Edward, Col. of a Reg. of Foot, at the siege of Cardoua, ill Spain, 23 Dec. 1711. It seems, however, curious that the spec, remainder should be to a descendant (of the half blood) of the grantee's great grandfather instead of to one of the numerous male descendants of the grantee's grandfather, the 1st Earl of Chesterfield. (8) See vol. ii, p. 102, sub " Cadogan," as to Earldoms taken from the family name of the grantee. ( h ) Macky speaks of him, when " turned 30 " as " one of the finest young gentlemen we have ; very learned with a great deal of wit .... fit for any uegociatiou a handsome [a MS. note by Swift says " ugly "] black man." Lecky writes that lie "appears to have been in general a high minded as well as brave and liberal man, well skilled in military matters and in foreign policy, and of that frank and straight forward character which often succeeds better in public life than the most reliued cunning, but