Stanhope, Edward, Sir (1543 -1608)

Sir Edward Stanhope was the fourth son of Sir Michael Stanhope, and Anne, daughter of Nicholas Rawson, of Aveley in Essex. An ecclesiastical lawyer, he was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, Scholar 1560, B.A. 1563, Minor Fellow 1564, M.A. 1566, Major Fellow 1569, and LL.D. 1575. He was appointed a Prebend of York in 1572, an Advocate in Doctors Commons in 1576, and a Master in Chancery, 7 June 1577. He sat as Member of Parliament for Marlborough 1584 1587. In 1591 he resigned his stall at York on being appointed Canon and Chancellor of St Paul's. King James I made him a Knight of the Bath at Whitehall, 25 July 1603. He was one of the commissioners to try Sir Walter Raleigh for treason in 1603, and on 27 June 1605, he became Vicar General of the Province of Canterbury. He gave £100 for the construction and fitting up of a library at Trinity College, Cambridge during his lifetime, bequeathed £700 for the salary of a library keeper and his man, and left the college fifteen manuscripts and over three hundred printed books. There is a list of fifteen manuscripts and 142 printed books given by him to the College in Trinity College Donors Book (MSR.17.8 pp.94 5).