Charles Stanhope, 3^rd Earl of Stanhope was an inventor and politician. In 1764, he and his family moved to Geneva in an attempt by his father to preserve his health, his elder brother having died from tuberculosis the previous year. Stanhope, then styled Viscount Mahon, lived in Geneva for a decade, making the acquaintance of the scientific community of the city. It was likely at Geneva where he developed the attitudes that brought him close to radical politicians such as John Wilkes on his return to London in 1774.

These radical connections and his scientific curiosity also acquainted Stanhope with Lord Shelburne and notably Joseph Priestley, at the time famed for his books on electricity, who was serving as Shelburne’s librarian. This book on Stanhope’s own experiments with electricity was published in 1779.