The Stanhope essay prize was an undergraduate history essay prize created at Balliol College, Oxford, by Philip Henry Stanhope, 5th Earl Stanhope in 1855.

Notable winners

Notable Stanhope Prize winners:

John Richard Magrath, 1860^[1]
Francis Jeune, 1863, 1st Baron St Helier^[2]
Thomas Pitt Taswell-Langmead, 1866^[3]
Thomas Buchanan, 1868, Liberal politician^[4]
Arthur Francis Leach, 1872
Richard Lodge, 1875^[5]
Charles Harding Firth, 1877, British historian
Arthur Elam Haigh, 1878^[6]
Holden Hutton, 1881^[7]
John Bruce Williamson, 1883, barrister, historian and writer^[8]
William Carr, 1884, biographer
Owen Morgan Edwards, 1886^[9]
George Arnold Wood, 1889, English Australian historian
John Buchan, 1897, British novelist
Robert Rait, 1899^[10]

Robert Howard Hodgkin was proxime^[11]

Alfred Eckhard Zimmern, 1902, New College, Oxford, British classical scholar and historian^[12]
Archibald Main, 1903
George Stuart Gordon, 1905^[13]
Vivian Hunter Galbraith, 1911, English historian
Michael Sadleir, 1912^[14]
Aldous Huxley, 1916, English writer
Bruce McFarlane, 1924^[15]
Bernard Miller, 1925, British businessman^[16]
Maurice Ashley, editor of The Listener
Derek Pattinson, 1951, Secretary-General of the General Synod of the Church of England^[17]

In fiction

In Max Beerbohm's satirical tragedy of undergraduate life at Oxford, Zuleika Dobson (1911), the hero Duke of Dorset^[18] was awarded, amongst others, the Stanhope:

At Eton he had been called "Peacock", and this nick-name had followed him up to Oxford. It was not wholly apposite, however. For, whereas the peacock is a fool even among birds, the Duke had already taken (besides a particularly brilliant First in Mods) the Stanhope, the Newdigate, the Lothian, and the Gaisford Prize for Greek Verse.^[19]

References

^ H. A. P. Sawyer, ‘Magrath, John Richard (1839–1930)’, rev. M. C. Curthoys, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
^ Herbert Stephen, 'Jeune, Francis Henry, Baron St Helier (1843–1905)', rev. Sinéad Agnew, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
^ J. M. Rigg, 'Langmead, Thomas Pitt Taswell (1840–1882), rev. Catherine Pease-Watkin, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
^ Gordon F. Millar, 'Buchanan, Thomas Ryburn (1846–1911)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
^ Geoffrey Best, 'Lodge, Sir Richard (1855–1936)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
^ S. J. Low, 'Haigh, Arthur Elam (1855–1905)', rev. Richard Smail, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
^ H. C. G. Matthew, 'Hutton, William Holden (1860–1930)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
^ Sir Ivo d'Oyle Elliot. "Williamson, John Bruce". The Balliol College Register. Second Edition. Printed by John Johnson at the University Press. 1934. p 129. Google Books
^ Gareth Elwyn Jones, 'Edwards, Sir Owen Morgan (1858–1920)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
^ D. M. Abbott, 'Rait, Sir Robert Sangster (1874–1936)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
^ "Mr. R. H. Hodgkin: Provost of Queen's and Historian". Obituary. The Times. No. 52, 041. London. 30 June 1951. p. 8.
^ "University intelligence". The Times. No. 36770. London. 17 May 1902. p. 11.
^ R. H. Darwall-Smith, 'Gordon, George Stuart (1881–1942)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
^ Derek Hudson, 'Sadleir , Michael Thomas Harvey (1888–1957)', rev. Sayoni Basu, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
^ G. L. Harriss, 'McFarlane, (Kenneth) Bruce (1903–1966)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
^ The Daily Telegraph "Obituary" 28 February 2003
^ The Times "Obituary" 14 October 2006
^ Or in full, John Albert Edward Claude Orde Angus Tankerton Tanville-Tankerton, fourteenth Duke of Dorset, Marquis of Dorset, Earl of Grove, Earl of Chastermaine, Viscount Brewsby, Baron Grove, Baron Petstrap, and Baron Wolock
^ Beerbohm, Max, Zuleika Dobson (Part 1 out of 5) online at fullbooks.com, accessed 16 August 2008