Edward Stanhope PC (24 September 1840 – 21 December 1893) was a British

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

politician who was

Secretary of State for War The Secretary of State for War, commonly called War Secretary, was a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, which existed from 1794 to 1801 and from 1854 to 1964. The Secretary of State for War headed the War Office and ...

from 1887 to 1892.

Background and education

Born in London, Stanhope was the second son of

Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl Stanhope Philip Henry Stanhope, 5th Earl Stanhope, (30 January 180524 December 1875), styled Viscount Mahon between 1816 and 1855, was an English antiquarian and Tory politician. He held political office under Sir Robert Peel in the 1830s and 1840s but ...

, by his wife Emily Harriet, daughter of General

Sir Edward Kerrison, 1st Baronet General Sir Edward Kerrison, 1st Baronet, (30 July 1776 – 9 March 1853) was a British Army officer and politician. Kerrison was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the 7th Light Dragoons, saw service during the Peninsular War and commanded his regim ...

Arthur Stanhope, 6th Earl Stanhope Arthur Philip Stanhope, 6th Earl Stanhope (13 September 1838 – 19 April 1905), was a British people, British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician. From 1855 to 1875 he was styled Viscount Mahon. Career He was a son of Philip ...

was his elder brother and

Philip Stanhope, 1st Baron Weardale Philip James Stanhope, 1st Baron Weardale (8 December 1847 – 1 March 1923), was a British Liberal Party politician and philanthropist. Background and early life Stanhope was born in Marylebone, London. A member of an important political fami ...

his younger brother. He was educated at Harrow and

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

. Stanhope studied law, being

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

at the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in 1865. In 1861 he played three

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

matches for

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ke ...

.Carlaw D (2020) ''Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part One: 1806–1914'' (revised edition), pp. 501–503.
Available online
at the

Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) was founded in England in 1973 for the purpose of researching and collating information about the history and statistics of cricket. Originally called the Association of Cricket Stati ...

. Retrieved 2020-12-21.)

Political career

In 1874 Stanhope was elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

for Mid Lincolnshire, a seat he held until 1885, and then represented

Horncastle Horncastle is a town and civil parish in the East Lindsey district in Lincolnshire, east of Lincoln. Its population was 6,815 at the 2011 census and estimated at 7,123 in 2019. A section of the ancient Roman walls remains. History Romans Alt ...

until his death. He soon rose to a position of prominence within the party. In 1875, he became

Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade The Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade in the United Kingdom was a member of Parliament assigned to assist the Board of Trade and its President with administration and liaison with Parliament. It replaced the Vice-President of the Board o ...

, and in 1878 moved up to

Under-Secretary of State for India This is a list of Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State and Permanent Under-Secretaries of State at the India Office during the period of British rule between 1858 and 1937 for India(and Burma by extension), and for India and Burma from 193 ...

, where he was a key assistant to India Secretary Lord Cranbrook. After the Tories' fall from power in 1880, Stanhope supported Commons leader

Sir Stafford Northcote Stafford Henry Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh (27 October 1818 – 12 January 1887), known as Sir Stafford Northcote, Bt from 1851 to 1885, was a British Conservative politician. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1874 and 18 ...

against younger Tories led by

Lord Randolph Churchill Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill (13 February 1849 – 24 January 1895) was a British statesman. Churchill was a Tory radical and coined the term 'Tory democracy'. He inspired a generation of party managers, created the National Union of ...

in internal Conservative party squabbling. When the Conservatives returned to the power, Stanhope became vice-president of the Committee of Council on Education, with a seat in the cabinet, and almost immediately thereafter

President of the Board of Trade The president of the Board of Trade is head of the Board of Trade. This is a committee of the His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Privy Council of the United Kingdom, first established as a temporary committee of inquiry in the 17th centu ...

. He moved up to major cabinet office in Salisbury's second government, serving first as Colonial Secretary from 1886 to 1887 and then as

from 1887 to 1892 following a cabinet reshuffle in January 1887. As War Secretary, Stanhope fought for reform against the reactionary high officers – most notably the

Duke of Cambridge Duke of Cambridge, one of several current royal dukedoms in the United Kingdom , is a hereditary title of specific rank of nobility in the British royal family. The title (named after the city of Cambridge in England) is heritable by male des ...

, the Commander in Chief, and Sir Garnet Wolseley, the Adjutant-General. In spite of his own inexperience in military affairs and this formidable opposition, Stanhope achieved a fair amount, although it was his

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

successor,

Henry Campbell-Bannerman Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (né Campbell; 7 September 183622 April 1908) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. He served as the prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1905 to 1908 and leader of the Liberal Party from 1899 to 190 ...

, who managed to push Cambridge into retirement.

Personal life

In December 1893, Stanhope died suddenly of a heart attack, aged 53. The school house 'Stanhope' at

Alderwood School Alderwood School is a coeducational all-through school located over three sites in Aldershot in Hampshire, England. It was formed in September 2017 from the merger of Belle Vue Infant School, Newport Junior School and The Connaught School. His ...

in the garrison town of

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alders ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

is named in his honour.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stanhope, Edward 1840 births Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom English cricketers Kent cricketers UK MPs 1874–1880 UK MPs 1880–1885 UK MPs 1885–1886 UK MPs 1886–1892 UK MPs 1892–1895 1893 deaths Younger sons of earls I Zingari cricketers People educated at Harrow School Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Members of the Inner Temple

Edward Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...

Gentlemen of the South cricketers Secretaries of State for the Colonies Parliamentary Secretaries to the Board of Trade Presidents of the Board of Trade