Henry Fox-Strangways, 2nd Earl of Ilchester

Ilchester was the eldest son of Stephen Fox-Strangways, 1st Earl of Ilchester, and his wife, the former Elizabeth Horner. Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, was his uncle. He was educated at Eton (1760–1764) and Christ Church, Oxford (1765).[3]

He was elected to the House of Commons for Midhurst, Sussex 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.[2]

He bought an army commission in 1770 and was made a captain in the 24th Regiment of Foot, but in 1775 when the regiment was sent to America he resigned his commission.[3]

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.[4] The family's previous governess had been Jane Gardiner, a childhood friend of Mary Wollstonecraft.

He married twice:

• Firstly, in 1772, to Mary Theresa O'Grady (died 1792), a daughter of Standish O'Grady, by whom he had two sons and six daughters,[3] including:
  • Henry Fox-Strangways, 3rd Earl of Ilchester, eldest son and heir
  • Louisa, 5th daughter (d.1851), married in 1808 Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, later 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne[5]
• Secondly, in 1794, he married Maria Digby, a daughter of Rev. William Digby, Dean of Worcester, Dean of Durham, an Honorary Chaplain to the King, younger brother of Henry Digby, 1st Earl Digby, and first cousin of Charles James Fox. By Maria Digby he had three sons, including:
  • John George Charles Fox-Strangways (1803–1859), third son, whose mural monument survives in the Ilchester Chapel of All Saints Church, Farley, Wiltshire.

He died in September 1802, aged 55, and was succeeded by his son from his first marriage, Henry Fox-Strangways, 3rd Earl of Ilchester.

Arms of Fox-Strangways

The arms of the head of the Fox-Strangways family are blazoned 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).[6]

A Funerary hatchment of Henry Fox-Strangways, 2nd Earl of Ilchester, in the Ilchester Chapel at Farley, shows his quartered arms impaling dexter O'Grady (Per pale gules and sable, three lions passant guardant in pale per pale argent and or) and sinister Digby (Azure, a fleur-de-lys argent) quartering FitzGerald.

• Kidd, Charles; Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.