Sir Thomas Stanhope

  General Notes:

He was 12 years old when his father was executed in 1552. He lived in Shelford in Nottinghamshire. He became Member of Parliament for Nottinghamshire. In 1596 he died in debt, partly caused by the cost of rebuilding Shelford Manor.

He married Margaret Port of Etwall in Derbyshire, daughter of Sir John Port of Etwall and Cubley, and Elizabeth Gifford.

Children:

Sir John Stanhope (1559-1611)
Edward Stanhope
Anne Stanhope, married John Holles, 1st Earl of Clare.

Thomas was the eldest of eight surviving children. He was only twelve years old when his father, Sir Michael Stanhope, was executed in 1552. (It was Sir Michael who had acquired Shelford in Henry VIII's time.) For the rest of his life he was determined that his family would regain and then maintain their status. Nevertheless, he was often at odds with his wife (the heiress Margaret Port of Etwall in Derbyshire) and two of his sons (John and Edward).

To enforce his authority as a landowner, Sir Thomas frequently turned to courts such as Star Chamber and Chancery. Over a period of thirty years he quarrelled with the Fletchers of Stoke Bardolph, the Willoughbys of Wollaton, the Zouches of Codnor (resulting in a riot in Derby in 1577), and the Molyneux, Sacheverell, Kniveton and Markham families.

His most bitter foe was Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury. (The earl's wife claimed that Sir Thomas's wickedness had caused him to become ' more ugly in shape than the ugliest toad in the world'. She hoped that all 'plagues and miseries' would befall him and that he would 'be damned perpetually in hell fire'.) The climax of this quarrel came at Easter 1593 when the earl's tenants and servants attacked Sir Thomas's weir on the River Trent.

In the difficult religious and political world of Queen Elizabeth's reign, it is hardly surprising that the government became alarmed at the frequent disputes in the provinces which could undermine the nation's stability.

In 1596 Sir Thomas died in debt, partly caused by the cost of rebuilding his house at Shelford. Whether he was a victim or villain we shall leave the reader to decide. In the long run, however, his family's status rose. His grandson became the 1st Earl of Chesterfield - a title found on local public house signs to this day.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Address: Shelford, Nottinghamshire.

Thomas married Margaret Port, daughter of Sir John Port and Elizabeth Gifford.