Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl of Chesterfield

The Right Honourable The Earl of Chesterfield KG, PC, FRS, FSA


Master of the Mint
In office 1789–1790
Monarch	George III
Prime Minister	Hon. William Pitt the Younger
Preceded by	The Earl of Effingham
Succeeded by	The Marquess Townshend
Master of the Horse
In office 1798–1804
Monarch	George III
Prime Minister	Hon. William Pitt the Younger Henry Addington
Preceded by	The Earl of Westmorland
Succeeded by	The Marquess of Hertford
Personal details
Born	10 November 1755 (1755-11-10)
Died	29 August 1815 (1815-08-30) (aged 59) Bretby, Derbyshire
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	(1) Anne Thistlethwayte (1759-1798) (2) Lady Henrietta Thynne (1762-1813)
Alma mater	University of Leipzig, Saxony

Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl of Chesterfield KG, PC, FRS, FSA (10 November 1755 – 29 August 1815), known as Philip Stanhope until 1773, was a British politician and diplomat. He was British Ambassador to Spain between 1784 and 1787, Master of the Mint between 1789 and 1790, Joint Postmaster General between 1790 and 1798 and Master of the Horse between 1798 and 1804.

Stanhope was the son of Arthur Charles Stanhope, of Mansfield Woodhouse, and Margaret, daughter and co-heiress of Charles Headlam, of Kerby Hall, Yorkshire, and cousin, godson and, later, adopted son of Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (whose titles he inherited at his death in 1773). He was a great-great-great-grandson of Philip Stanhope, 1st Earl of Chesterfield. His adoptive father directed his early education and his tutors included the poet Cuthbert Shaw and Edward Gibbon's friend the Swiss Jacques Georges Deyverdun, as well as Adam Ferguson, Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, and the forger Dr William Dodd. He was later educated at the University of Leipzig, Saxony. During his service in Germany he became a member of the Masonic Lodge Minerva zu den drei Palmen Leipzig in 1773.