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,

Career 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.

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

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, by whom he had two sons and six daughters, 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 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. With Maria Digby he had three sons:

William Thomas Horner Fox-Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (7 May 1795 – 10 January 1865) Hon 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. A mural monument survives in the Ilchester Chapel of All Saints Church, Farley, Wiltshire.

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.

Arms

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).

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.