Henry Thomas Fox-Strangways, 2nd Earl of Ilchester (10 August 1747 – 5 September 1802), known as Lord Stavordale from 1756 to 1776, was a British peer and Member of Parliament.

Early life and education

Ilchester was the eldest son of

Stephen Fox-Strangways, 1st Earl of Ilchester Stephen Fox-Strangways, 1st Earl of Ilchester Privy Council of Great Britain, PC (''né'' Fox; 12 September 1704 – 26 September 1776) was a British peer and Member of Parliament. Origins Fox was the eldest surviving son of Sir Stephen Fox (16 ...

, and his wife, the former Elizabeth Horner.

Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, PC (28 September 1705 – 1 July 1774) was an English peer and Whig politician who served as the Secretary at War from 1746 to 1755. He also held the offices of Secretary of State for the Southern Department f ...

, was his uncle. He was educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England *Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States *Éton, a commune in the Meuse depa ...

(1760–1764) and

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

(1765).

Career

He was elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

for

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 ...

, Sussex in 1768 (along with his cousin

Charles James Fox Charles James Fox (24 January 1749 – 13 September 1806), styled ''The Honourable'' from 1762, was a British British Whig Party, Whig politician and statesman whose parliamentary career spanned 38 years of the late 18th and early 19th centurie ...

), a seat he retained until 1774. Two years later he succeeded his father as second Earl of Ilchester and took his seat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. He bought an army commission in 1770 and was made a captain in the

24th Regiment of Foot Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * Fourth (album), ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'', a 1972 ...

, but in 1775 when the regiment was sent to America he resigned his commission. Detailed information about the Ilchester household and family survives in the published diaries and correspondence of Agnes Porter, a Scottish-born

governess A governess is a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching; depending on terms of their employment, they may or ma ...

to his many daughters from 1784 to 1797. The family's previous governess had been

Jane Gardiner Jane Arden Gardiner (1758–1840) was an English schoolmistress and grammarian, and one of the earliest friends of Mary Wollstonecraft. Early life Gardiner was the daughter of John Arden, scholar and lecturer, best known as one of Mary Wollsto ...

, a childhood friend of

Mary Wollstonecraft Mary Wollstonecraft ( , ; 27 April 175910 September 1797) was an English writer and philosopher best known for her advocacy of women's rights. Until the late 20th century, Wollstonecraft's life, which encompassed several unconventional ...

Marriages and children

Lord Ilchester married twice. His first marriage in 1772 was to Mary Theresa O'Grady (died 1792), a daughter of Standish

O'Grady ''O'Grady'' is an American animated comedy television series created by Tom Snyder, Carl W. Adams, and Holly Schlesinger for Noggin's teen programming block, The N. The show features the voices of H. Jon Benjamin, Melissa Bardin Galsky, P ...

, by whom he had two sons and six daughters, including: * Lady Mary Lucy Fox-Strangways (died 3 February 1855), married

Captain 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 ...

Sir Christopher Cole KCB * Lady Charlotte Anne Fox-Strangways (died 27 May 1826), married

Sir Charles Lemon, 2nd Baronet Sir Charles Lemon, 2nd Baronet (3 September 1784 – 13 February 1868) was a British Member of Parliament for several constituencies and a baronet. Early life He inherited his baronetcy in 1824 upon the death of his father Sir William Lemon, 1 ...

* Lady Elizabeth Theresa Fox-Strangways (died 12 March 1846), married William Davenport Talbot, of

Lacock Abbey Lacock Abbey in the village of Lacock, Wiltshire, England, was founded in the early 13th century by Ela, Countess of Salisbury, as a nunnery of the Augustinian order. The abbey remained a nunnery until the Dissolution of the monasteries in ...

, near

Chippenham Chippenham is a market town in north-west Wiltshire, England. It lies north-east of Bath, Somerset, Bath, west of London and is near the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town was established on a crossing of the River Avon, ...

, Wiltshire and were the parents of

Henry Fox Talbot William Henry Fox Talbot (; 11 February 180017 September 1877) was an English scientist, inventor, and photography pioneer who invented the salted paper and calotype processes, precursors to photographic processes of the later 19th and 20th c ...

* Lady Harriot Fox-Strangways (died 6 August 1844) * Lady Louisa Emma Fox-Strangways (27 June 1785 – 3 April 1851), married

Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (2 July 178031 January 1863), known as Lord Henry Petty from 1784 to 1809, was a British statesman. In a ministerial career spanning nearly half a century, he notably served as Home Secretary a ...

* Henry Stephen Fox-Strangways, 3rd Earl of Ilchester (21 February 1787 – 3 January 1858) Secondly, in 1794, he married Maria Digby, a daughter of

The Very Reverend The Very Reverend (abbreviated as The Very Revd or The Very Rev) is an honorific style (form of address), style given to certain (primarily Western Christian, Western) Christian clergy and Christian minister, ministers. The definite article "t ...

William Digby,

Dean of Worcester The Dean of Worcester is the head of the Chapter of Worcester Cathedral in Worcester, England. The current dean is Stephen Edwards. The dean lives at The Deanery, College Green, Worcester. List of deans Early modern *1541–1544 Henry Holb ...

Dean of Durham The Dean of Durham is the "head" (''primus inter pares'' – first among equals) and chair of the Chapter, the ruling body of Durham Cathedral. The dean and chapter are based at the ''Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cu ...

, an

Honorary Chaplain to the King An Honorary Chaplain to the King is a member of the clergy within the United Kingdom who, through long and distinguished service, is appointed to minister to the monarch of the United Kingdom. When the reigning monarch is female, Honorary Chaplain ...

, younger brother of

Henry Digby, 1st Earl Digby Henry Digby, 1st Earl Digby (21 July 1731 – 25 September 1793), was a British peer and Member of Parliament. Early life Digby was the younger son of Charlotte Fox and Hon. Edward Digby, a Member of Parliament for Warwickshire from 1726 to ...

and first cousin of

. With Maria Digby he had three sons: * William Thomas Horner Fox-Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (7 May 1795 – 10 January 1865) *

Hon Hon or HON may refer to: People Given name * Cho Hŏn (1544–1592), Joseon militia leader * Ho Hon (1885–1951), North Korean politician Surname * Han (surname) (Chinese: 韩/韓), also romanized Hon * Louis Hon (1924–2008), French fo ...

Giles Digby Robert Fox-Strangways (26 May 1798 – 12 February 1827) * Hon John George Charles Fox-Strangways (6 February 1803 – 8 September 1859), father of

Henry Fox-Strangways, 5th Earl of Ilchester Henry Edward Fox-Strangways, 5th Earl of Ilchester PC (13 February 1847 – 6 December 1905), known as Henry Fox-Strangways until 1865, was a British peer and Liberal politician. He served as Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arm ...

. A mural monument survives in the Ilchester Chapel of All Saints Church,

Farley, Wiltshire Farley is a village in southeast Wiltshire, England, about east of Salisbury. Geography Farley is one of the Dun Valley villages, together with East Grimstead, West Dean and Pitton. Streams which form the River Dun rise to the west and ...

Death and succession

He died in September 1802, aged 55, and was succeeded by his son from his first marriage,

Henry Fox-Strangways, 3rd Earl of Ilchester Henry Stephen Fox-Strangways, 3rd Earl of Ilchester, Privy Council of the United Kingdom, PC (21 February 1787 – 8 January 1858), styled Lord Stavordale from birth until 1802, was a British peer and Whig (British political faction), Whig polit ...

Arms

The arms of the head of the Fox-Strangways family are

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

ed ''Quarterly of four: 1st & 4th: Sable, two lions passant paly of six argent and gules'' (Strangways); ''2nd & 3rd: Ermine, on a chevron azure three foxes' heads and necks erased or on a canton of the second a fleur-de-lys of the third'' (Fox)."Earl of Ilchester" in Montague-Smith, P.W. (ed.), ''Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage'' (Kelly's Directories Ltd, Kingston-upon-Thames, 1968), p. 607 A

Funerary hatchment A funerary hatchment is a depiction within a black lozenge-shaped frame, generally on a black (''sable'') background, of a deceased's heraldic achievement, that is to say the escutcheon showing the arms, together with the crest and supporters ...

of Henry Fox-Strangways, 2nd Earl of Ilchester, in the Ilchester Chapel at Farley, shows his quartered arms impaling

dexter Dexter may refer to: People * Dexter (given name) * Dexter (surname) * Dexter (singer), Brazilian rapper Marcos Fernandes de Omena (born 1973) * Famous Dex, also known as Dexter, American rapper Dexter Tiewon Gore Jr. (born 1993) Places United ...

O'Grady (''Per pale gules and sable, three lions passant guardant in pale per pale argent and or'') and

sinister Sinister commonly refers to: * Evil * Ominous Sinister may also refer to: Left side * Sinister, Latin for the direction "left" * Sinister, in heraldry, is the bearer's true left side (viewers' right side) of an escutcheon or coat of arms; see dex ...

Digby (''Azure, a fleur-de-lys argent'') quartering FitzGerald.

Early life and education

Career

Marriages and children

Death and succession

Arms

References

Further reading