Lot Essay
Charles James Fox (1749-1806) was the second son of Henry Fox, later first Baron Holland (1705-1774), politician, and Lady (Georgiana) Caroline Lennox (1723-1774). A Whig statesman and the arch-rival of William Pitt the Younger (see lot 85), Fox was a supporter of American Independence, the French Revolution and the anti-slavery movement. Famous for his love of gambling and women, Fox had an illegitimate daughter by Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, and in 1795, secretly married Elizabeth Armitstead (1750-1842), see lot 108, a former lover of the Prince of Wales. The marriage was not made public until 1802, and Elizabeth was not accepted at court.