Charles James Fox | |
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![]() Portrait by Karl Anton Hickel, 1794 | |
Foreign Secretary | |
In office 7 February 1806 – 13 September 1806 | |
Prime Minister | William Grenville |
Preceded by | The Lord Mulgrave |
Succeeded by | Viscount Howick |
In office 2 April 1783 – 19 December 1783 | |
Prime Minister | The Duke of Portland |
Preceded by | The Lord Grantham |
Succeeded by | The Earl Temple |
In office 27 March 1782 – 5 July 1782 | |
Prime Minister | The Marquess of Rockingham |
Preceded by | The Viscount Stormont (Northern Secretary) |
Succeeded by | The Lord Grantham |
Leader of the House of Commons | |
In office 7 February 1806 – 13 September 1806 | |
Prime Minister | William Grenville |
Preceded by | William Pitt the Younger |
Succeeded by | Viscount Howick |
In office 27 March 1782 – 5 July 1782 | |
Prime Minister | The Marquess of Rockingham |
Preceded by | Lord North |
Succeeded by | Thomas Townshend |
Lord Commissioner of the Treasury | |
In office 9 January 1773 – 18 February 1774 | |
Prime Minister | Lord North |
Preceded by | Charles Jenkinson |
Succeeded by | Viscount Beauchamp Charles Wolfran Cornwall |
Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty | |
In office 28 February 1770 – 20 February 1772 | |
Prime Minister | Lord North |
Preceded by | Charles Townshend Sir George Yonge, Bt |
Succeeded by | Thomas Bradshaw |
Member of Parliament for Westminster | |
In office 1785–1806 | |
Preceded by | Parliamentary scrutiny |
Succeeded by | Sir Alan Gardner, Bt Earl Percy |
In office 1780–1784 | |
Preceded by | Viscount Malden Lord Thomas Pelham-Clinton |
Succeeded by | Parliamentary scrutiny |
Member of Parliament for Tain Burghs | |
In office 1784–1785 | |
Preceded by | Charles Ross |
Succeeded by | George Ross |
Member of Parliament for Malmesbury | |
In office 1774–1780 | |
Preceded by | Earl of Donegall Hon. Thomas Howard |
Succeeded by | Viscount Fairford Viscount Lewisham |
Member of Parliament for Midhurst | |
In office 1768–1774 | |
Preceded by | John Burgoyne Bamber Gascoyne |
Succeeded by | Herbert Mackworth Clement Tudway |
Personal details | |
Born | London, England | 24 January 1749
Died | 13 September 1806 Chiswick, England | (aged 57)
Resting place | Westminster Abbey |
Political party | Whig (Foxite) |
Spouse | Elizabeth Armistead |
Parents | |
Education | Eton College |
Alma mater | Hertford College, Oxford |
Profession | Statesman, abolitionist |
Signature | |
Charles James Fox (24 January 1749 – 13 September 1806), styled The Honourable from 1762, was a British Whig politician and statesman whose parliamentary career spanned 38 years of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was the arch-rival of the Tory politician William Pitt the Younger; his father Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, a leading Whig of his day, had similarly been the great rival of Pitt's famous father, William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham ("Pitt the Elder").
Fox rose to prominence in the House of Commons as a forceful and eloquent speaker with a notorious and colourful private life, though at that time with rather conservative and conventional opinions. However, with the coming of the American War of Independence and the influence of the Whig Edmund Burke, Fox's opinions evolved into some of the most radical to be aired in the British Parliament of his era.
Fox became a prominent and staunch opponent of King George III, whom he regarded as an aspiring tyrant. He supported the American Patriots and even dressed in the colours of George Washington's army. Briefly serving as Britain's first Foreign Secretary during the ministry of the Marquess of Rockingham in 1782, he returned to the post in a coalition government with his old enemy, Lord North, in 1783. However, the King forced Fox and North out of government before the end of the year and replaced them with the 24-year-old Pitt the Younger. Fox spent the following 22 years facing Pitt and the government from the opposition benches of the House of Commons.
Though Fox had little interest in the actual exercise of power[1] and spent almost the entirety of his political career in opposition, he became noted as an anti-slavery campaigner, a supporter of the French Revolution and a leading parliamentary advocate of religious tolerance and individual liberty. His friendship with his mentor, Burke, and his parliamentary credibility were both casualties of Fox's support for France during the French Revolutionary Wars, but Fox went on to attack Pitt's wartime legislation and to defend the liberty of religious minorities and political radicals. After Pitt's death in January 1806, Fox served briefly as Foreign Secretary in the 'Ministry of All the Talents' of William Grenville before he died on 13 September 1806, aged 57.