Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield - Death of His Son

Death of His Son

In 1768 Philip Stanhope, the child of so many hopes, died. The constant care bestowed by his father on his education resulted in an honourable but not particularly distinguished career for young Stanhope. His death was an overwhelming grief to Chesterfield, and the discovery that he had long been married to a lady of humble origin must have been galling in the extreme to his father after his careful instruction in worldly wisdom. Chesterfield, who had no children by his wife, Melusina von der Schulenburg, Countess of Walsingham, an illegitimate daughter of George I by Ehrengard Melusine von der Schulenburg, Duchess of Kendal and Munster, whom he married in Isleworth, Middlesex, on 5 September 1733, adopted his godson, a third cousin once removed, also named Philip Stanhope (1755–1815), as heir to the title and estates. He did however, bequeath to his grandsons Charles (1761–1845) and Philip (1763–1801), the children of his illegitimate son Philip, £100 annuity each and a further £10,000 between them. Extracts of his will were published in The Gentleman's Magazine in 1773.

His famous jest (which even Johnson allowed to have merit), "Tyrawley and I have been dead these two years, but we don't choose to have it known," is the best description possible of his humour and condition during the latter part of this period of decline. To the deafness was added blindness, but his memory and his fine manners only left him with life; his last words ("Give Dayrolles a chair") prove that he had neither forgotten his friend nor the way to receive him. He died on 24 March 1773 at Chesterfield House, Westminster, the grand London townhouse he had built in about 1749.