(1714 - 86), e. s. of 1st E. Stanhope; sty. Vct. Mahon 1718 - 21 when suc. fa. as 2nd E.; educ. Utrecht and Geneva; FRS 1735; m. 1745 Grisell Hamilton, dau. of Charles, Ld. Binning.
1732 - 5 Turin (late 1732), Milan (by 6 Jan. 1733), Padua (25 Jan.), Venice (Feb. - Mar.), Florence (by 28 Jun. 1733), Rome, Turin (summer 1734), Florence ( - Dec.), Leghorn (by 29 Dec. 1734), Venice (mid Mar. 1735), Rome, Florence (May - Jun. 1735), Turin [England by Mar. 1736]
Lord Stanhope was a scholar, deeply versed in mathematics and Greek, and with a passion 'for democratic principles' (DNB). Having completed his studies in Utrecht and Geneva, he went to Italy with a tutor, Mr Delaporte. They stayed for four years, but their itinerary is not completely clear. In 1732 Stanhope may have attended the Academy in Turin (where his contrasting and presumably uncongenial younger brother George was also staying). From Milan on 6 January 1733 Stanhope thanked Lord Essex, the British ambassador, for his kindnesses in Turin, and said he now 'found all the English Gentlemen ... that left Turin in my time'; he was enjoying the opera and was to stay ten days longer with William Fauquier 'in order to hear the rehearsals of the second Opera which will begin to be acted on the Stage ye 20th of this Month'; he had already asked Elizeus Burges in Venice to secure him good lodgings.1 He was in Padua on 25 January 1733,2 and on 27 February Stanhope, the 6th Earl of Salisbury and Sir Thomas Twisden were about to leave Venice for Rome.3
While he was in Venice Stanhope sat to Rosalba Carriera; the portrait, dated 1733, is at Chevening.4 On 28 June he was in Florence.5 In August 1733 Lord Essex was telling the 4th Earl of Chesterfield that 'if Lord Stanhope goes on as he does he will soon kill himself, and he is horridly Possitive. I extreamly pity poor Mr La Porte who takes vast care and pains with him'.6 He probably returned to Turin in the summer of 1734, Lord Chesterfield approving such a scheme.7 At the end of December 1734 he came from Florence with Charles Fane to pass a few days in Leghorn.8 At the beginning of June 1735 Stanhope was leaving Florence, proposing to call at Turin on his way back to England.9 Back in England, Delaporte told Lord Essex that Stanhope had now 'more health & spirits than when your Lordship last saw him, & takes now a good deal of exercise'.(10)
1. Add.27732, f.76. 2. Brown 1936. 3. SP 99/63, f.220 (Burges, 27 Feb. 1733). 4. F. Russell, Burl.Mag., 131[1989]:857. 5. SP 98/34 (Skinner, 28 Jun. 1733). 6. Add. 27732, f.208 (5 Aug. 1733). 7. Add.27733, f.55 (8 Apr. 1734). 8. SP 98/35 (Skinner, 29 Dec. 1734). 9. Add.27733, f.172 (C. Fane, 30 May 1735). 10. Add.27735, f.110 (15 Mar. 1736).