Family and Education

b. c.1579, 1st s. of Edward Stanhope I. educ. G. Inn 1592-3. m. Margaret, da. of Sir Henry Constable of Burton Constable, Yorks., 3s. 3da. KB July 1603; suc. fa. 12 Aug. 1603.

Offices Held

Sheriff, Yorks. 1615-16.

Biography

Stanhope no doubt owed his return for Scarborough to his father, who was elected for the county in the same year. It is not, however, clear through which of three possible patrons this influence was exercised. Either the Eures or Sir Thomas Posthumous Hoby, contestants for patronage in the borough, might have assisted Stanhope’s election. The Stanhopes were related to Hoby, and Sir Edward had supported him in the county election campaign in 1597. On the other hand, he had worked closely and amicably with Lord Eure on the council in the north and on border affairs. A third possibility is the Earl of Nottingham, high steward of Scarborough. Stanhope inherited considerable landed property from his father and made a good marriage. He was living at Edlington, near Doncaster, in the house his father had built, when he gave a silver cup to Doncaster to be competed for in horse races on the moor. But he gradually disposed of his estates, until he was left with property worth only £194 a year. He took little part in county administration, except for his one term as sheriff. He signed the 1640 petition of the Yorkshire gentry against the billeting of soldiers, and was buried at Kirkby Wharfe on 3 Oct. 1646, being succeeded by his eldest son Edward.

Dugdale’s Vis. Yorks. ed. Clay, i. 219-21; C142/300/173; PCC 16 Harte; St. Ch. 8/269/4; J. T. Cliffe, ‘Yorks, gentry on the eve of the civil war’, (London Univ. PhD thesis 1960), p. 459; CSP Dom. Apr.-Aug. 1640, p. 524.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: B.D.

Notes