Charles James Fox was born in Conduit St. in London on the 24th of January 1749.
He was the third son of Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland of Farley (1763) and Lady Caroline Lennox,
daughter of 2nd Duke of Richmond, and great- granddaughter of Charles II. Henry Fox was a Tory
politician, notable chiefly for the success with which he exploited public office for private
gain.
He was sent to Westminster school, then to Eaton and afterward to Hertford College, Oxford.
At the age of 14 his father took him away from Eton to Spa where for four months he was
introduced to gambling. The habit caught with him and on his return he turned Eton into a
small gambling den and his name became associated with dissipation.
Yet his reputation for good nature and oratory also held him in good stead there, as he was
a remarkable scholar, holding a life long fascination with the classics. He was known to always
have a copy of Horace in his coat pocket. While being vastly intelligent he commented at school
that, "I am afraid that my natural idleness will in the end get the better of what little
ambition I have."
The Duchess of Devonshire and her clique nicknamed him "The Eyebrow" for he had large shaggy
brows. In fact physically he was corpulent, graceless, clumsy and rather un-aesthetic
but jovial, charming, intelligent easy going and ebullient which made him much sought
after company.
His father gave Charles James the best education but also believed that 'nothing should be done
to break his spirit' so he was fully indulged. While still a child he had been promised that he
might watch a wall being demolished on the family estate. However, when his rather found out
that it had been demolished with Charles being there to see this happen, he insisted that the
wall be rebuilt and demolished again so Charles might have the promised treat.
Fox entered Parliament in the age of 19 representing Midhurst At the age of
twenty-one, Fox was appointed by Frederic North, the prime minister, as the Junior Lord of the
Admiralty. In December 1772 Fox became Lord of the Treasury but was dismissed by George III
in February 1774 after criticising the influential artist and journalist, Henry Woodfall.
Charles Fox opposed North's policy towards America. He denounced the taxation of the Americans
without their consent. When war broke out Fox called for a negotiated peace.
After 1780 Fox became a supporter of parliamentary reform. He advocated the disfranchisement
of rotten and pocket boroughs and the redistribution of these seats to the fast growing
industrial towns.
Despite the king's objection, after Lord Frederick North's government fall in March 1782,
he became Foreign Secretary in the marquis of Rockingham's Whig ministry (1782) and helped
to secure the repeal of Poynings's Law (see Poynings, Sir Edward), thus giving Ireland
legislative independence.
Fox left the government in July 1782, on the death of the Marquis of Rockingham as he was
unwilling to serve under the new prime minister, Lord Sherburne. Fox quarrelled with the earl
of Shelburne over the negotiation of peace with the former American colonies, France, and Spain.
Sherburne appointed the twenty-three year old William Pitt as his Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Pitt had been a close political friend of Fox and after this the two men became bitter enemies.
Fox then allied himself with his old enemy, Lord North, to insure Shelburne's the Peace
preliminaries defeat, and he became (February 1783) foreign secretary again, in a coalition
with North. The Coalition was dismissed in December, 1784, when George III brought his influence
to bear in the House of Lords to secure defeat of Fox's bill vesting the government of India in
a commission nominated by Parliament.Fox was replaced in office by William Pitt, whom he
bitterly opposed for the rest of his life.
Fox supported parliamentary reform but he rejected the idea of universal suffrage and instead
argued for the vote to be given to all male householders. However his campaign for Westminster
in 1784 was a famous occasion as it was the first time that a woman had been active in
electioneering, for Fox "recruited" The Duchess and her sister and friends to assist him
to catch votes. Nathaniel Wraxall in his book "Posthumous Memoirs of His Own Times" notes:
In 1788, when George III became temporarily insane, Fox wanted unrestricted regency vested
in the prince of Wales (later George IV). This position seemed to belie his strongly professed
belief in the supremacy of Parliament and the need to restrict royal power, but the prince, who
was Fox's close friend, would have brought Fox and the Whigs back to office. George III
recovered, however, and Fox remained out of power.
When the French Revolution broke out in 1789 Charles Fox was initially enthusiastic describing
it as the "greatest event that has happened in the history of the world" and opposed British
intervention in the French Revolutionary Wars. He expected the creation of a liberal,
constitutional monarchy and was horrified when King Louis XVI was executed. When war broke out
between Britain and France in February 1793, Fox criticised the government and called for
a negotiated end to the dispute. Although Fox's views were supported by the Radicals, many
people regarded him as defeatist and unpatriotic.
Fox disapproved of the ideas of Tom Paine and criticised Rights of Man, however, he consistently
opposed measures that attempted to curtail traditional freedoms. He attacked plans to suspend
habeas corpus in May 1794 and denounced the trials of Thomas Muir, Thomas Hardy, John Thelwall
and John Horne Tooke. Since 1799 until the very death Fox was writing "A History of England
from the Revolution". Before his death only first chapters of this work had been finished and
then published in 1808 as "History of the Reign of James II".
At Pitt's death he became (1806) for a few months foreign secretary in the so called "Ministry
of All the Talents. Fox began negotiating with the French but was unable to bring an end to
the war. After making a passionate speech in favour of the Abolition of the Slave Trade bill
(passes in 1807) in the House of Commons on 10th June 1806, Fox was taken ill. His health
deteriorated rapidly and he died three months later on 13th September, 1806 and was buried
in Westminster Abbey. Through his years in opposition he set the foundation of the modern
Whig party, crusading against crown influence and insisting on cohesive party principles.
In his times the Great Britain saw the weakest but one of the most radical opposition in its
history."These ladies, being previously furnished with lists of outlying voters drove to
their respective dwellings. Neither entreaties nor promises were spared."
The tactics worked and Fox was re-elected.