Stanhope, Philip, 1st Earl of Chesterfield (1584 -1656)
Philip Stanhope was the eldest son of Sir John Stanhope (d.1611) of Shelford in Nottinghamshire and Elvaston in Derbyshire, and Cordell, daughter and coheir of Richard Allington Esq. He was knighted by James I on 16 December 1605, and was created Baron Stanhope of Shelford, 7 November 1616, for which dignity he paid £10,000. He was raised to Earl of Chesterfield 4 August 1628. He married, firstly, Catherine, daughter of Francis Lord Hastings, by whom he had eleven sons and two daughters; and secondly, Anne, daughter of Sir John Pakington, and widow of Sir Humphrey Ferrers. An ardent Royalist, his house at Shelford was garrisoned for the king under the governorship of his third son, Philip, who lost his life when it was stormed by the parliamentary troops and burnt to the ground 27 October 1645. In the Donors Book of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (p.100) there is a list of fifty-five printed books given by him to the College.