Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl Stanhope

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Philip Henry Stanhope, 4th Earl Stanhope FRS (December 7, 1781 – March 2, 1855), was an English aristocrat, chiefly remembered for his role in the Kaspar Hauser case during the 1830s.

He sat in parliament for Wendover in 1806-7, Hull in 1807-12, and Midhurst from 1812 till his succession to the peerage on 15 Dec. 1816. Sharing his father's (Charles Stanhope's) scientific interest, he was elected F.R.S. on 8 Jan. 1807 and was a president of the Medico-Botanical Society; he furthermore was a vice-president of the Society of Arts.^[1]

Like other members of his gifted family, notably his sister Lady Hester Stanhope, he is usually portrayed as a somewhat eccentric character. Having studied in Germany, he used to travel extensibly in Europe (mostly alone, though he was married and had a son and a daughter), thereby consorting at various princely courts and spending a lot of money. In contrast to some accounts, which suggest that he lived beyond his means, it appears certain that he was rich, at least after he had succeeded his father in 1816.^[2]

Stanhope became interested in the story of the "foundling" Kaspar Hauser, a youth who had appeared in Nuremberg in 1828 and had become famous through his claim that he had been raised in total isolation in a dark room and could nothing tell about his identity. Furthermore, Hauser was found with a cut wound in 1829 and claimed to have been attacked by a hooded man. This led to various rumours that he might be of princely parentage but also suspicions that he was an impostor. Stanhope first met Hauser in 1831 and soon felt a strong affection for the young man: indeed, their relationship could have had homo-erotic undertones, as contemporary rumours suggested. He endowed him generously and paid for (unavailing) inquiries in Hungary to clarify the young man's origin, as the latter, in 1830, had claimed to remember some Hungarian and Slavic words which had led to speculations that he might stem from there. Hauser's custodian, Baron von Tucher, criticised Stanhope's pedagogically wrong behaviour towards Hauser and retired from his custodianship.^[3] Now Stanhope, in December 1831, became Hauser's foster-father and transferred him to the care of a schoolmaster. In January 1832, he returned to England from where he continued to communicate by letter with his fosterling and also with officials examining the case. Stanhope had favoured the theory that Hauser stemmed from Hungarian magnates but had to give up this idea when he was informed that further inquiries in Hungary had, once more, failed completely. In a letter to the Bavarian court president Anselm von Feuerbach (dated October 5, 1832), Stanhope now clearly uttered his doubts in Hauser's credulity.^[2] While he continued to pay for his fosterling's living expenses, he never redeemed his promise that he would take him to England and his letters to Hauser became less affectionate. Hauser did realize this change of mood.^[2] On December 14, 1833, Hauser came home with a deep wound in his chest and claimed to have been stabbed by a stranger. He died three days later. Although Stanhope had long stopped to believe in Hauser's tales, he at first was of opinion that Hauser had indeed been murdered, a view he uttered in one of his letters (dated December 28).^[2] In another letter from January 7, 1834, when he had received more information on what had happened, a change of mind announces itself:^[4] he would later advocate the position that Hauser himself had inflicted the wound by pressure, and that, after he had squeezed the point of the knife through his wadded coat, it had penetrated much deeper than he had intended. In his Tracts Relating to Caspar Hauser (1836, German original: 1835) Stanhope published all known evidence against Hauser: "The more I was deceived in this affair, and the more erroneous were my views, the more is it now my duty to act with zeal, and, if it were in my power, with ability, to preserve others as far as possible from similar errors. Though I have on that account appeared in an unfavourable light to some of those who are known or unknown to me, though I have been abused and even calumniated, I find a sufficient consolation in my own conscience."^[5]

Stanhope, indeed, was attacked by followers of Hauser, and even accused of contriving his death. They suggested that Hauser was a hereditary prince of Baden and was murdered for political reasons. Professional historians (like Ivo Striedinger) defended Lord Stanhope as a "seeker of truth" and as a deceived philanthropist who had realized his delusion.^[4]

Anthroposophist author Johannes Mayer repeated the accusations against Stanhope,^[6] but he completely failed to prove them.^[7]

[edit] References

• Philip Henry Earl Stanhope: Tracts Relating to Caspar Hauser, Hodson 1836
• Andrew Lang: The Mystery of Kaspar Hauser (in: Historical Mysteries, 1905)
• Ivo Striedinger: Neues Schrifttum über Kaspar Hauser, in: Zeitschrift für bayerische Landesgeschichte, 6. Jg. 1933, pp. 415–484, especially pp. 424-429
• Jean Mistler: Gaspard Hauser, un drame de la personnalité, Fayard 1971 [ISBN 978-2213593616]
• Fritz Trautz: Zum Problem der Persönlichkeitsdeutung: Anläßlich das Kaspar-Hauser-Buches von Jean Mistler, in: Francia 2, 1974, pp. 715-731, especially pp. 719-721 and pp. 725-726

[edit] Footnotes

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Charles Long John Smith	Member of Parliament for Wendover with George Smith 1806–1807	Succeeded by George Smith Francis Horner
Preceded by John Staniforth William Joseph Denison	Member of Parliament for Hull with John Staniforth 1807–1812	Succeeded by John Staniforth George William Denys
Preceded by Thomas Thompson George Smith	Member of Parliament for Midhurst with Thomas Thompson 1812–1816	Succeeded by Thomas Thompson Sir Oswald Mosley, Bt
Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by Charles Stanhope	Earl Stanhope 1816–1855	Succeeded by Philip Henry Stanhope