Stanhope, James Stanhope, 1st Earl, 1673–1721, English general and statesman. During the War of the Spanish Succession he participated in the capture (1705) of Barcelona, was appointed (1706) minister to Spain, and in 1708 became commander in chief of the British forces there. He soon captured Minorca, taking Port Mahon and making it a winter base for the British fleet. He won the battles of Almenara and Zaragoza (1710) but lost his army to the French at Brihuega (1710) and was himself imprisoned for a year in Spain. On the accession (1714) in England of George I, Stanhope became a secretary of state. Devoting himself primarily to foreign affairs, he concluded a complex series of treaties, including the Triple Alliance (1717) with France and the Dutch. As chief minister (1717–18) he carried through the plans originated by Robert Walpole Walpole, Robert, 1st earl of Orford, 1676–1745, English statesman.

Early Life and Career

He was the younger son of a prominent Whig family of Norfolk.
..... Click the link for more information. to fund the national debt and repealed (1718) the Occasional Conformity and Schism acts against dissenters. Becoming secretary of state again (1718), Stanhope negotiated the Quadruple Alliance Quadruple Alliance, any of several European alliances. The Quadruple Alliance of 1718 was formed by Great Britain, France, the Holy Roman emperor, and the Netherlands when Philip V of Spain, guided by Cardinal Alberoni , sought by force to nullify the peace
..... Click the link for more information. of 1718 against Spain and formed (1719) a Baltic coalition to resist Russian expansion. His masterful diplomacy greatly strengthened Great Britain's position in Europe. He was created Earl Stanhope in 1718.

Stanhope, James Stanhope, 1st Earl

(born 1673, Paris, France—died Feb. 5, 1721, London, Eng.) English soldier and statesman. He began a military career in 1691 and rose rapidly to become commander in chief of the English army in Spain in 1708 in the War of the Spanish Succession. He was defeated and captured by the French (1710), then returned to England (1712) and regained his seat in the House of Commons (1701–21). He served in the Whig government as secretary of state and negotiated the Quadruple Alliance against Spain (1718). Stanhope served as first lord of the treasury (1717–18), but his ministry was discredited by the South Sea Bubble scandal.