Sir Michael Stanhope

Sir Michael Stanhope (before 1508 – 26 February 1552) was the son of Sir Edward Stanhope of Rampton, Nottinghamshire. For a time an influential courtier, he was beheaded on Tower Hill on 26 February 1552 after he was convicted of conspiring to take the life of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, and others.

Stanhope, born before 1508, was the second son of Sir Edward Stanhope (d. 6 June 1511) of Rampton by his first wife, Adelina Clifton, the daughter of Sir Gervase Clifton, of Clifton, Nottinghamshire. He was a direct descendant of King John and thus of William the Conqueror.

When his elder brother, Richard, died without male issue on 21 January 1529, Michael Stanhope succeeded to the family's lands, and by 1532 was in the service of Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland. By 1535 Stanhope's half sister, Anne, had married Edward Seymour, the brother of Jane Seymour, third wife of King Henry VIII, and Stanhope entered the King's service.

In October 1536 he helped to prevent the spread of the rebellion known as the Pilgrimage of Grace, and was rewarded with an appointment as Justice of the Peace for Nottinghamshire, and the opportunity to acquire lands in Nottinghamshire which became available as a result of the dissolution of the monasteries. He bought Shelford priory in November 1537, leased Lenton priory in 1539, and in 1540 purchased the manor of Shelford and other properties.