The eldest son of James Stopford, 2nd Earl of Courtown, Member of Parliament and Knight of the Order of St. Patrick, by his wife, Mary, James George Stopford also became a Knight of St. Patrick, and succeeded his father as Earl in 1810. On 29 January 1791, he married Mary [d. 1823], eldest daughter of the 3rd Duke of Buccleuch. They had two sons and a daughter--James Thomas, Edward, and Jane; eldest son James Thomas succeeded his father as 4th Earl.