Henrietta Stanhope, Countess of Chesterfield

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

The earl's first wife, Anne, died in 1798, leaving one daughter, Lady Harriet Stanhope, who died unmarried in 1803.

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]

She married the earl on 2 May 1799, in Grosvenor Street, London.[2] They resided at the family seat, Bretby Hall in Derbyshire, which was rebuilt by the earl in about 1812. The couple had two children:

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]

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. "Household of Queen Charlotte 1761-1818". 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.
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