Henrietta Stanhope, Countess of Chesterfield

Henrietta Stanhope, Countess of Chesterfield (née Lady Henrietta Thynne; 17 November 1762 – 31 May 1813), was the second wife of Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl of Chesterfield.

Henrietta Stanhope
Countess of Chesterfield
Born	Lady Henrietta Thynne (1762-11-17)17 November 1762
Died	May 31, 1813(1813-05-31) (aged 50) Chesterfield House, Mayfair, London
Noble family	Thynne
Spouse(s)	Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl of Chesterfield ​ ​ (m. 1799; died 1813)​
Issue	Lady Georgiana Stanhope George Stanhope, 6th Earl of Chesterfield
Father	Thomas Thynne, 1st Marquess of Bath
Mother	Lady Elizabeth Bentinck
Occupation	Lady of the Bedchamber to Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Early life

Henrietta was the third daughter of Thomas Thynne, 1st Marquess of Bath, and his wife, the former Lady Elizabeth Cavendish-Bentinck. One of her older sisters, Louisa, became Countess of Aylesford, and a younger sister, Sophia, became Countess of Ashburnham. Henrietta's childhood was interrupted by a serious illness, as reported by Mary Granville in a letter of 1770:

I am first going to Lady Weymouth, who is pretty well, but has been a good deal hurried with poor Miss H. Thynne's illness; the poor little creature has undergone much severer discipline than I thank God was necessary in your case – having been twice blooded and once blistered, but the doctors now think her much better.^[1]

Personal life

She married the earl on 2 May 1799, in Grosvenor Street, London.^[2] From his first marriage to Anne, who died in 1798, he had one daughter, Lady Harriet Stanhope, who died unmarried in 1803. They resided at the family seat, Bretby Hall in Derbyshire, which was rebuilt by the earl in about 1812. The couple had two children:

• Lady Georgiana Stanhope (d. 1824), who married Frederick Richard West, a grandson of John West, 2nd Earl De La Warr.
• George Stanhope, 6th Earl of Chesterfield (1805–1866), who married Hon. Anne Elizabeth Weld-Forester, a daughter of Cecil Weld-Forester, 1st Baron Forester and Lady Katherine Manners (a daughter of the 4th Duke of Rutland).

The countess was a Lady of the Bedchamber to Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom, from 1807 until her own death in 1813.^[3]

The countess died at the family's London home, Chesterfield House, Mayfair, aged 50 (though contemporary death notices describe her as 52).^[4] Her husband survived her by two years and died aged 59. He was succeeded in the earldom by their son, George.^[5]

Arms

Coat of arms of Henrietta Stanhope, Countess of Chesterfield

Escutcheon Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl of Chesterfield (Quarterly Ermine & Gules) impaling Thomas Thynne, 1st Marquess of Bath (Quarterly 1st & 4th barry of ten Or and Sable 2nd & 3rd Argent a lion rampant with tail nowed and erect Gules).

References

1. The Autobiography and Correspondence of Mary Granville, Mrs. Delany: With Interesting Reminiscences of King George the Third and Queen Charlotte. R. Bentley. 1862. pp. 257–.
2. G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume III, page 184.
3. . Institute of Historical Research. Archived from the original on 15 March 2007. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
4. The annual register or a view of the history, politics and literature for the year 1813. Baldwin. 1823. pp. 1–.
5. Peter W. Hammond, editor, The Complete Peerage or a History of the House of Lords and All its Members From the Earliest Times, Volume XIV: Addenda & Corrigenda (Stroud, Gloucestershire, U.K.: Sutton Publishing, 1998), page 172.