Background
Harrington was the son of Charles Stanhope, 7th Earl of Harrington, and Elizabeth Still de Pearsall.
Harrington was the son of Charles Stanhope, 7th Earl of Harrington, and Elizabeth Still de Pearsall.
He learned polo in Malta while in the Cheshire Yeomanry, a regiment of which he became Lieutenant-Colonel in command from 1899 to 1905 and Honorary Colonel thereafter. His rotund figure and flowing beard were a memorable image on British polo grounds and an obvious choice for caricature in Vanity Fair. Harrington was the inventor of the papier-mâché goal posts and was President of the County Association and the first President of the Pony Society.
He was responsible for the establishment of the Pony Study book
He played at the Staffordshire Club, based at Ingestre Hall, founded by Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury, in 1895. The then Viscount Petersham also took part in tilting competitions at the Wenlock Olympian Society Annual Games in 1881, when he came a joint second in flat tilting.
In the same games he was the only President to also participate. He competed in the flat tilting, but did not take a ring, and took part in a tent-pegging demonstration.
In 1883 he donated a prize to the Society for flat tilting.
He was a Deputy Lieutenant of Derbyshire and Aide-de-Camp to King Edward VII between 1907 and 1910, and to King George V thereafter. 1844–1866: Mr Charles Augustus Stanhope
1866–1881: Viscount Petersham
1881–1907: The Right Honourable The Earl of Harrington
1907–1917: The Right Honourable The Earl of Harrington Doctor of Laws
Lord Harrington"s main family homes in 1883 were Elvaston Castle, Derbyshire, and Gawsworth Old Hall, Cheshire. Lord Harrington married the Honourable Eva Elizabeth Carrington, daughter of Robert Carrington, 2nd Baron Carrington, in 1869.
He died in February 1917, aged 73, at Elvaston Castle, of blood poisoning caused by burns sustained at his engineer"s workshop, and was buried at Elvaston parish church.
Lady Harrington died in 1919.
He was also Master of the Harrington Fox Hounds which hunted in south Nottinghamshire, and a prominent member of the National Hunt Committee.