Earl of Ilchester is a title in the

Peerage of Great Britain The Peerage of Great Britain comprises all extant peerages created in the Kingdom of Great Britain between the Acts of Union 1707 and the Acts of Union 1800. It replaced the Peerage of England and the Peerage of Scotland, but was itself repla ...

. It was created in 1756 for Stephen Fox, 1st Baron Ilchester, who had previously represented

Shaftesbury Shaftesbury () is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is on the A30 road, west of Salisbury, Wiltshire, Salisbury and north-northeast of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester, near the border with Wiltshire. It is the only significant hi ...

in Parliament. He had already been created Baron Ilchester, of Ilchester in the County of Somerset in 1741, and Baron Ilchester and Stavordale, of Redlynch, in the County of Somerset, in 1747. These titles were also in the

. All three peerages were created with remainder, failing heirs male of his own, to his younger brother Henry Fox, who was himself created Baron Holland in 1763. The brothers were the only sons from the second marriage of the politician Sir Stephen Fox. In 1758 the first Earl assumed by Royal licence the additional surname of Strangways, which was the maiden name of his wife's maternal grandmother. He was succeeded by his eldest son, the second Earl. He represented

Midhurst Midhurst () is a market town and civil parish in the Chichester District in West Sussex, England. It lies on the River Rother (Western), River Rother, inland from the English Channel and north of Chichester. The name Midhurst was first reco ...

in Parliament. His eldest son, the third Earl, served as

Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard The Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard is a Government of the United Kingdom, UK Government post usually held by the Government Whip (politics), Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Lords. The present Captain is Margaret Whe ...

from 1835 to 1841 in the Whig

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

Lord Melbourne Henry William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne (15 March 177924 November 1848) was a British Whig politician who served as the Home Secretary and twice as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. His first premiership ended when he was dismissed ...

and was also Lord Lieutenant of Somerset from 1837 to 1839. Lord Ilchester survived both his sons and was succeeded by his half-brother, the fourth Earl. He was Ambassador to the

German Confederation The German Confederation ( ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, which had been dissolved ...

from 1840 to 1849. His nephew, the fifth Earl, was

Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

from 1873 to 1874 in the Liberal

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party. In a career lasting over 60 years, he ...

and also served as

Lord Lieutenant of Dorset The Lord Lieutenant is the monarch's representative in the English county of Dorset. The office of the Lord Lieutenant was created during the reign of Henry VIII (1509–1547), taking over the military duties of the Sheriff of Dorset and contro ...

from 1885 to 1905. On the death in 1964 of his grandson, the seventh Earl, the line of the eldest son of the first Earl failed. The seventh Earl was succeeded by his fourth cousin, the eighth Earl. the titles are held by his grandson, the tenth Earl, who succeeded his uncle in 2006. The family seat was

Melbury House Melbury House is an English country house in the parish of Melbury Sampford near Evershot, Dorset. The Grade I listed mansion is the home of the Honourable Charlotte Townshend, a major landowner in east Dorset, through her mother, Theresa Fox ...

, near

Evershot Evershot is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the English county, county of Dorset in southwest England, situated approximately south of Yeovil in Somerset. It is the second highest village in the county at above sea-le ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

. The family, through Ilchester Estates, owns and manages large portions of land in the county of

and the

Holland House Holland House, originally known as Cope Castle, was an early Jacobean architecture, Jacobean country house in Kensington, London, situated in a country estate that is now Holland Park. It was built in 1605 by the diplomat Sir Walter Cope. The b ...

estate west of

Holland Park Holland Park is an area of Kensington, on the western edge of Central London, that lies within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and largely surrounds its namesake park, Holland Park. Colloquially referred to as 'Millionaire's Row', ...

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. The family inherited much land in the 17th century from the Wadham family of

Merryfield, Ilton Merryfield (''alias'' Merrifield, Murefeld, Merefeld, Muryfield, Merifield, Wadham's Castle, etc.) is a historic estate in the parish of Ilton, near Ilminster in Somerset, England. It was the principal seat of the Wadham family, and was called ...

in Somerset and of

Edge, Branscombe Edge, (originally, ''Egge''), is an ancient and historic house in the parish of Branscombe, Devon, England and is today known as Edge Barton Manor. The surviving house is Listed building, grade II* listed and sits on the steep, south-facing side ...

in Devon, and in 1874 from their distant cousins the Fox family of

, Kensington.

Earls of Ilchester (1756)

Family tree

Present peer

Robin Maurice Fox-Strangways, 10th Earl of Ilchester (born 2 September 1942) is the son of Raymond George Fox-Strangways, younger son of the 8th Earl, and his wife Margaret Vera Force. He was educated at

Loughborough College Overview Loughborough College is a large general further education college in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It provides both further education (FE) and higher education (HE) courses on a single campus. The colleg ...

and had a career with Lloyds Bank. In 2003 he was living at Frankton, Warwickshire. On 2 July 2006 he succeeded to the peerages. '' Burkes Peerage'', vol. 2 (2003), page 2027 On 19 July 1969, he married Margaret Elizabeth Miles, daughter of Geoffrey Miles, and they had two children: *Simon James Fox-Strangways, Lord Stavordale (1972–2018) *Lady Charlotte Helen Fox-Strangways (born 1974), who had a career in nursing and married Stephen Hobin The

heir presumptive An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of a person with a better claim to the position in question. This is in contrast to an heir app ...

(and last in line to the earldom) is the present peer's younger brother Paul Andre Fox-Strangways (born 1950), a university lecturer.

References

Work cited

* * *Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990, , * *Fox-Strangways, Earls of Ilchester, archive (ref:D/FSI), estate and family papers, 965-1900s, held at the Dorset History Centre {{DEFAULTSORT:Ilchester Earldoms in the Peerage of Great Britain

Earl Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the Peerages in the United Kingdom, peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ...

Noble titles created in 1756

Earls of Ilchester (1756)

Family tree

Present peer

See also

References

Work cited