Henry Fox-Strangways, 2nd Earl of Ilchester

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.

Ilchester was the eldest son of Stephen Fox-Strangways, 1st Earl of Ilchester, and Elizabeth Horner. Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, was his uncle and Charles James Fox his cousin. He was elected to the House of Commons for Midhurst in 1768 (along with his cousin Charles James Fox), 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.

Lord Ilchester married, firstly, Mary Theresa O'Grady, daughter of Standish O'Grady, in 1772. After his first wife's death in 1792 he married, secondly, Maria Digby, daughter of Hon. William Digby, in 1794, with whom his third son was John Fox-Strangways. He died in September 1802, aged 55, and was succeeded by his son from his first marriage, Henry Stephen Fox-Strangways.

Detailed information about the Ilchester household and family survives in the published diaries and correspondence of Agnes Porter, a Scottish-born governess to his many daughters from 1784 to 1797.[1]

Notes

  1. A Governess in the Age of Jane Austen. The Journals and Letters of Agnes Porter, ed. Joanna Martin (London: Hambledon Press, 1998). ISBN 1852851643

References

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by
John Burgoyne
Bamber Gascoyne
Member of Parliament for Midhurst
with Charles James Fox

17681774
Succeeded by
Herbert Mackworth
Clement Tudway
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Stephen Fox-Strangways
Earl of Ilchester
1776–1802
Succeeded by
Henry Stephen Fox-Strangways