Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of 1694-1773
English statesman and man of letters

Born in London, he was an MP from 1715 to c.1723. In 1730 he was made Lord Steward of the household. Until then, as a Whig, he had supported Sir Robert Walpole; but being ousted from office for voting against an excise bill, he became one of Walpole's bitterest antagonists. He joined the Pelham ministry in 1744, became Irish Lord Lieutenant in 1745, and was in 1746 one of the principal secretaries of state. Intimate with Jonathan Swift, Pope and Viscount Bolingbroke, he drew from Dr Johnson a famous indignant letter. Besides the Letters to his Son (a guide to manners and success), he also wrote Letters to his Godson and Successor. His Letters to Lord Huntingdon were published in 1923, his verse in 1927.