Charles James Fox (24 January 1749 – 13 September 1806) was the Whig MP for Midhurst from 1768 to 1774, for Malmesbury from 1774 to 1780, for Westminster from 1780 to 1781, for Tain Burghs from 1784 to 1786, and for Westminster from 1801 to 1806. In 1782, 1783, and in 1806, he served as Foreign Secretary.
Biography[]
Charles James Fox was born in London, England in 1749, the son of Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, the older brother of Henry Edward Fox. He came from a family of distinguished Whigs, and he was first elected to the House of Commons in 1768. He became known as a forceful and eloquent speaker, despite initially having conservative and conventional views. With the coming of the American Revolutionary War, Fox developed radical views and became a prominent and staunch opponent of King George III. He supported George Washington and the patriots and even dressed in the colors of the Continental Army, and he briefly served as Foreign Secretary in 1782 and 1783. After the King named William Pitt the Younger as the new Prime Minister in 1783, Fox opposed him from the opposite side of Parliament for 22 years. Fox became noted as an abolitionist, a supporter of the French Revolution (which cost him his friendship with Edmund Burke and his parliamentary credibility), an advocate for religious freedom, and a believer in individual liberty. After Pitt's death in 1806, he briefly served as Foreign Secretary, but he died in office that same year.
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