{{Short description|British noble (1755–1780)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Viscountess Mahon | birth_name = Lady Hester Pitt | birth_date = 19 October 1755 | birth_place = | death_date = {{dda|20 July 1780|19 October 1755|df=y}} | death_place = | spouse = {{marriage|[[Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope|Charles Stanhope, Viscount Mahon]]|1774}} | children = [[Lady Hester Stanhope]]<br />Lady Griselda Tekell<br />Lady Lucy Taylor | parents = [[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham]]<br />[[Hester Pitt, Countess of Chatham|Hester Grenville]] }} '''Hester Stanhope, Viscountess Mahon''' (19 October 1755 – 20 July 1780), formerly '''Lady Hester Pitt''', was the wife of [[Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope|Charles Stanhope, Viscount Mahon]], later the 3rd [[Earl Stanhope]].
She was the eldest daughter of [[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham]], by his wife, [[Hester Pitt, Countess of Chatham|the former Hester Grenville]] (1720–1803), herself the daughter of the [[Hester Temple, 1st Countess Temple|1st Countess Temple]]. She was thus the sister of [[William Pitt the Younger]], who, like their father, served as [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]]. She may have been born at the Pay Office, which was at the time her parents' residence.<ref name="Birdwood">Birdwood, V. (ed.) ''So Dearly Loved, So Much Admired: Letters to Hester Pitt, Lady Chatham from her relations and friends (1744-1801)''. London: HMSO. p. 5.</ref>
Hester married Viscount Mahon on 19 December 1774. They had three children:<ref>Cokayne, G.E.; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, eds. ''The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant'', new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume III, page 146.</ref> * [[Lady Hester Stanhope]] (1776–1839); a traveller and Arabist who died unmarried at the age of 63 in [[Syria]]. * Lady Griselda Stanhope (21 July 1778 – 13 October 1851); married John Tekell. * Lady Lucy Rachel Stanhope (20 February 1780 – 1 March 1814); eloped with and married Thomas Taylor of Sevenoaks, the family [[apothecary]], and had children.
Their London house was in [[Harley Street]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theprivatelifeofpitt.com/2014/10/lord-mahons-address-on-harley-street.html|title=The Private Life of William Pitt (1759-1806)|date=16 October 2014|access-date=14 March 2018}}</ref> Following the birth of her third daughter, Lady Mahon suffered from [[puerperal fever]], and was taken to [[Chevening]] for her health.<ref name="Birdwood"/> She died there, aged 24, and was buried at St Botolph's Church, Chevening.
Stanhope remarried in 1781 to [[Louisa Stanhope, Countess Stanhope|Louisa Grenville]], his first wife's first cousin.<ref>Louisa's father, the Hon. [[Henry Grenville]], was the brother of Hester's mother, [[Hester Pitt, Countess of Chatham|the Countess of Chatham]].</ref> He inherited his father's title in 1786, his older brother having predeceased him.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanhope, Hester, Viscountess Mahon}} [[Category:1755 births]] [[Category:1780 deaths]] [[Category:British courtesy viscountesses|Mahon]] [[Category:Deaths in childbirth]] [[Category:Daughters of British earls]] [[Category:Pitt family|Hester]] [[Category:18th-century English women]] [[Category:18th-century English people]] [[Category:Children of William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham|Hester]] [[Category:People from Chevening, Kent]] [[Category:Stanhope family|Hester]]