Summerset Fox

Somerset Fox (18 January 1618 – 1689) occasionally spelled Sommerset or Summerset Fox, was an English Royalist soldier and landowner who fought in the First English Civil War. Following the war he was accused of taking part in Gerard's conspiracy to assassinate Oliver Cromwell and pleaded guilty to a charge of high treason, one of only two men in English history to do so.

Fox escaped the death penalty, though was sentenced to transportation. After the restoration of the monarchy he served as Member of Parliament for Ludlow.

Biography Fox was born in 1618 at Caynham, Shropshire, the eldest son of landowner Somerset Fox of Gwernygo, Montgomeryshire, and Anne, daughter of Sir Walter Long. Fox's father was the son of Sir Edward Fox and his wife Elizabeth Somerset, granddaughter of the Earl of Worcester. The Fox family had been involved in the administration of the Ludlow area of Shropshire since the 15th century.

Fox matriculated at the University of Leiden in 1633. During the English Civil War he rose to the post of colonel in the Royalist army, having previously seen military service on the Continent; he served under Prince Rupert in the garrison of Bristol. At their trial by the High Court of Justice sitting in Westminster Hall on 30 June 1654, Fox pleaded guilty. though he appears to have still been in England as late as 1656.