|
In
the nave of Westminster Abbey, within the choir screen, is a
large monument to James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope. The
monument was erected in 1733 and is by William Kent and J.M.
Rysbrack. It was designed to match that of Sir Isaac Newton,
which is on the north side of the choir screen gates. It
consists of a figure of Stanhope reclining on a sarcophagus
wearing Roman armour and holding a baton. Above him is Minerva
seated on a military tent. A putto leans on an achievement of
the Earl's coat of arms. At the base are four medallions with
inscriptions representing the cavalry battle at Almenara,
Queen Anne, the capture of Minorca and Sardinia, and Victory
laying flags at the Queen's feet after the battle of
Saragossa.
The
Latin inscription on the sarcophagus can be translated:
Sacred
to the memory of the most noble JAMES, EARL STANHOPE, whom the
magnificent diversity of his honours (by virtue of the
multifarious excellence of his genius), step by step rendered
illustrious. Reared from his earliest youth in a martial
environment, he made his way, through an unbroken succession
of commands, incurring no envy, to the very summit of military
glory. Spain bears witness to his achievements as Commander in
Chief, and affixed medallions utter a well earned eulogy. He
gained no less fame in the management of civil affairs,
sincere there was scarcely a single one of the more
illustrious offices in which the fortune of his country did
not exercise him, in which he did not distinguish himself as a
loyal and wise benefactor of his country. As Secretary of
State he was the author and perfector of most important
alliances, and, as an upright Chancellor of the Exchequer, he
maintained a scrupulously honest guard over the public monies,
together with a shrewd management of the interest thereof. In
each House of Parliament outstanding in his gift for spirited
oratory, he stimulated and fired the minds of his audience,
while himself maintaining a tranquil and stedfast judgement
amidst the burning ardour of his eloquence. While he was
tempering these arts of war and peace with the kindliness of
his most amiable character, and most graciously adorning with
the pleasures of a more cultivated learning his times of
respite from his affairs, an untimely death forbade that he
should continue to be a blessing to his country (unless
through the excellent hopes afforded by his surviving
progeny). He died on 5 February 1720 in the 47th year of his
age.
The date of his death is given in Old Style dating and would
now be 1721. Below the medallions:
This
monument was here erected, as a final token of conjugal
affection, and as a lasting effigy of a man who had been
honoured with the ceremony of a public funeral, at the command
of his grieving wife, the Lady Lucy. She was bound to her
eminent husband by the closest ties of love and virtue.
James was born in Paris, a son of the Hon. Alexander Stanhope
and his wife Katherine (Burghill). He was educated at Eton and
Oxford and had a distinguished military career during the war
of the Spanish Succession. In 1708 he was commander of the
British forces in Catalonia and took Minorca from the
Spaniards. He was later captured by the Duc de Vendome. On his
release he took up politics, as stated in the inscription. In
1713 he married Lucy Pitt and had seven children. He was
created Viscount Stanhope of Mahon and later Earl. He died of
a stroke and after his full military funeral in London he was
buried at his family seat at Chevening in Kent.
|