Charles James Fox

The Right Honourable Charles James Fox
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	(1749-01-24)24 January 1749 London, England
Died	13 September 1806(1806-09-13) (aged 57) Chiswick, Middlesex, England
Resting place	Westminster Abbey
Political party	Whig (Foxite)
Spouse	Elizabeth Armistead
Parents	Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland Lady Caroline Lennox
Relatives	Fox family
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.