(c.1719 - 51), o. s. of 2nd E. of Stafford; sty. Ld. Howard - 1734 when suc. fa. as 3rd E.; m. 1743 Henrietta Cantillon; FRS 1743.
1739 - 40 Siena (18 - 21 Oct. 1739), Leghorn (21 Oct.), Florence (Oct. - Nov.), Siena (by 20 - 27 Nov. 1739), Rome (Jan. - Feb. 1740), Naples (8 Mar. - 24 May - ), Rome ( - Aug.), Florence (5 Aug. - )
On 18 October 1739 the Catholic Lord Stafford arrived in Siena with his governor Mulloneux, a Jacobite who had been a page at the Court of Lorraine, and Charles-Just, Prince de Beauvau.1 On the 21st they visited Leghorn,1 and they apparently spent some time in Florence where, according to Stosch, Stafford (with Lord Quarendon) first displayed Jacobite sympathies.2 They were back in Siena by 20 November and finally left for Rome on the 27th.1 In Rome Stafford and Quarendon consorted much with the Pretender, again according to Stosch who considered they were misled by Mulloneux.3 In February 1740 Stafford collaborated with Francis Dashwood in the mock Papal conclave (see Dashwood) and, with Edward Coke, paid particular attention to the anglophile Princess Eleonora Borghese (who married Prince Francavilla that year).4 Stafford went on to spend nearly three months in Naples, staying on after Quarendon departed in May.5 On 5 August Stafford arrived in Florence from Rome.6
1. Pomfret jnl.MSS. 2. SP 98/43, f.33 (Walton, 17 Apr. 1740). 3. Ibid., f.19 (28 Feb. 1740). 4. De Brosses, 2:189. Sterne Letters, 270n3. 5. SP 93/10 (E. Allen, 24 May 1740). 6. SP 98/44 (Florence Newsletter, 7 Aug. 1740). Pomfret jnl.MSS (7 Aug. 1740).