He was educated at
Eton College and
Christ Church, Oxford, then took a
Grand Tour. On his father's death in 1716, he inherited (among other estates)
Redlynch Park in Somerset, where he improved both the house and gardens. He purchased further land in Wiltshire and Somerset. His father had been appointed to the lucrative post of Paymaster of the Forces under
King Charles II, from which post he had made his huge fortune.
In 1726, Fox was elected as a
Member of Parliament for
Shaftesbury in Dorset, a seat he held until 1741, when he was raised to the
peerage of Great Britain and joined the
House of Lords as Baron Ilchester of Ilchester in the County of Somerset and Baron Strangways of Woodford in the County of Dorset; In 1747, he was created Baron Ilchester and Stavordale of Redlynch, in the County of Somerset, with
special remainder in default of male issue of his own to his younger brother Henry Fox, and in 1756 was further honoured when he was made Earl of Ilchester, with the same special remainder.[2] In 1763, he was admitted to the
Privy Council.
Private life
Fox was the lover of the diarist and courtier
John Hervey for around ten years, from 1726 to 1736. Many passionate letters between the two survive.[3] Hervey initially favoured Fox's brother,
Henry Fox, but when "charmingly rebuffed" paid infatuated court to Fox. Their relationship ended around the time Fox entered into an
arranged marriage.
Marriage and children
In 1735, at the age of 31, Fox agreed to an arranged marriage with the thirteen-year-old
Elizabeth Horner, daughter and sole heiress of
Thomas Strangways Horner (1688–1741), a landowner and member of parliament, of
Mells Manor in Somerset,
Sheriff of Somerset in 1711/12,[4] by his wife Susanna Strangways, a daughter of
Thomas Strangways (1643–1713), of Melbury House, and eventual sole heiress of her brother Thomas Strangways (d. 1726). In accordance with the terms of his wife's inheritance from her childless brother in 1726, Thomas Horner had adopted for himself and his descendants the surname and arms of Strangways. The marriage was arranged secretly by the bride's mother Susanna Strangways, whose "paramour" was Henry Fox, Stephen's younger brother. Thomas Horner objected strongly to the marriage (which his wife denied him any involvement in arranging), not only because he considered his daughter too young, but also because he opposed the Whig politics of the Fox family. His manor of Mells passed by
tail male to his younger brother.[4] In 1758, Stephen Fox also
assumed the additional surname and arms of Strangways, in accordance with the terms of his wife's inheritance. By his wife he had the following children:
Lady Susannah Sarah Louisa Fox-Strangways (1 February 1743 – 1827),[5] known as "Susan". She was the childhood object of affection of her first cousin the future Whig statesman
Charles James Fox (1749–1806), who in 1760 when a schoolboy at Eton, composed a prize-winning Latin verse describing a pigeon he found to deliver his love-letters to her "to please both Venus its mistress and him".[6] The scenario was captured in a painting by Sir
Joshua Reynolds. The young Charles was however very disappointed when in 1764 she eloped with the "unsuccessful" Irish actor
William O'Brien. The match caused a scandal in high society, with
Horace Walpole commenting: "Even a
footman were preferable — the publicity of the hero's profession perpetuates the mortification".[7]
Lady Charlotte Elizabeth Fox-Strangways (b. 11 March 1744);[8]
Lady Juliana Judith Fox-Strangways (b. 10 July 1745);[9]
Rev. Charles Redlynch Fox-Strangways (27 April 1761 – 4 November 1836), who married Jane Haines;
Death and burial
Fox died on 26 September 1776, aged 72, and was succeeded by his son
Henry Fox-Strangways.
Fictional depictions
Stephen Fox appears as "Stephen
Reynard", later Lord Ivell and Earl of Wessex, in the short story "The First Countess of Wessex" by
Thomas Hardy, collected in A Group of Noble Dames.
Arms
The arms of the head of the Fox-Strangways family are
blazonedQuarterly 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).[2]
^
ab“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
^"The Gay Love Letters of John, Lord Hervey to Stephen Fox"; excerpts from My Dear Boy: Gay Love Letters through the Centuries (1998), edited by Rictor Norton,
accessed 26 May 2010