| Honorific Prefix: | The Right Honourable |
| The Earl of Harborough | |
| Office: | Member of Parliament for Rutland |
| Term Start: | 1708 |
| Term End: | 1710 |
| Predecessor: | Richard Halford Sir Thomas Mackworth |
| Successor: | Lord Finch John Noel |
| Birth Name: | Philip Sherard |
| Death Place: | Stapleford, Leicestershire |
| Parents: | Bennet Sherard Dorothy Fairfax Stapylton |
| Children: | 14 |
| Relations: | Robert Sherard, 4th Earl of Harborough (grandson) |
Philip Sherard, 2nd Earl of Harborough (– 20 July 1750), of Whissendine, Rutland, was a British landowner and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1708 to 1710 and later succeeded to the peerage as Earl of Harborough.
Sherard was the eldest son of Bennet Sherard, of Whissendine, Rutland, and his wife Dorothy Fairfax, daughter of Henry Fairfax, 4th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, Scotland, and widow of Robert Stapylton of Wighill, Yorkshire.
He was admitted at Middle Temple in 1696. In 1699, the manor of Hellewell was settled on him by his father, who died in 1701, leaving him the rest of his estates.[1]
Sherard was appointed a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to Queen Anne in 1705. At the 1708 British general election, he was returned as a Whig Member of Parliament for Rutland. He voted for the naturalization of the Palatines and was twice a teller on non-political matters in 1709. In 1710, he voted for the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell. He was defeated at the 1710 British general election. In 1714, his appointment as Gentleman of the Privy Chamber was renewed for the lifetime of George I.[2] He was appointed deputy lieutenant of Rutland in 1715. At the 1722 British general election he attempted to regain his seat at Rutland, but was defeated.[1]
Sherard succeeded his cousin Bennet Sherard, 1st Earl of Harborough to the earldom on 16 October 1732. He was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Rutland in 1733.[1] In 1744, he was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Lincolnshire.[3]
On 12 March 1703, Harborough was married to Anne Pedley, the daughter and heiress of Nicholas Pedley of Washingley (son and heir of Sir Nicholas Pedley Serjeant-at-Law) and Frances Apreece (a daughter of Robert Apreece of Washingley). They were the parents of six sons and eight daughters including:
Lord Harborough died at Stapleford, Leicestershire, on 20 July 1750, and was buried near Whissendine. He was succeeded by Bennet Sherard, 3rd Earl of Harborough.[6]
. James William Edmund Doyle . The Official Baronage of England, v. 2 . London . Longmans, Green . 1886 . 108 .