Stanhope, Philip, 5th Earl of Chesterfield (1755 -1815)

Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl of Chesterfield, owned a set of folio Prayer Books, identically bound for him, of which at least five still survive. The one in the Henry Davis Gift originally had a bill from “James Russell, successor to Eliz. Stevens deceased, Bookseller, Bookbinder and Stationer opposite Stationers Hall near Ludgate Street” with the printed date “17—“. This is now missing. The 5th Earl was the only surviving son of Arthur Charles Stanhope, and his second wife Margaret, daughter and coheir of Charles Headlam of Kirby Hall in Yorkshire. Educated by a series of second rate tutors, and at Leipzig, he was good natured but lacking in the social graces. A descendant of the first Earl, he succeeded his kinsman Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield in the earldom 24 March 1773. He married, firstly, 16 September 1777, Anne Thistlethwayte, by whom he had a daughter; and secondly, 2 May 1799, Henrietta, third daughter of Thomas, 1st Marquess of Bath. He was Master of the Horse and a Knight of the Garter.