Stephen Fox


Sir Stephen Fox of Farley in Wiltshire, of Redlynch Park in Somerset, of Chiswick, Middlesex and of Whitehall, was a royal administrator and courtier to King Charles II, and a politician, who rose from humble origins to become the "richest commoner in the three kingdoms". He made the foundation of his wealth from his tenure of the newly created office of Paymaster-General of His Majesty's Forces, which he held twice, in 1661–1676 and 1679–1680. He was the principal force of inspiration behind the founding of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, to which he contributed £13,000.

Origins

Stephen Fox was sixth but fourth surviving son of William Fox, of Farley, Wiltshire, a yeoman farmer, by his wife Elizabeth Pavey, a daughter of Thomas Pavy of Plaitford, Hampshire. His eldest surviving brother was John Fox, Clerk of the Acatry to King Charles II. Stephen's sister was Jane Fox, who married Nicholas Johnson, who was Paymaster-General of His Majesty's Forces from 1680 to 1682, following Stephen Fox's second shorter term in that office.

Career

Stephen was a Chorister of Salisbury Cathedral in Wiltshire and was mentioned in John Evelyn's Diary as a poore boy from the quire of Salisbury. His elder brother John Fox had obtained a position in the royal court on the recommendation of the Dean of Salisbury Cathedral, and first introduced his younger brother Stephen to the royal court, specifically to the household of the royal children, as "supernumerary servant and play-fellow". At the age of fifteen Stephen obtained a post in the household of Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland; then he entered the service of Lord Percy, the earl's younger brother, and was present with the royalist army at the Battle of Worcester as Lord Percy's deputy at the ordnance board. Accompanying King Charles II in his flight to the continent, he was appointed manager of the royal household on the recommendation of Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon. Clarendon described him as "a young man bred under the severe discipline of Lord Percy... very well qualified with languages, and all other parts of clerkship, honesty and discretion".
The skill with which Fox managed the finances of the exiled court earned him further confidence and promotion. He was employed on several important missions, and acted eventually as intermediary between the king and General Monck. Honours and emolument were his reward after the Restoration of the monarchy; he was appointed to the lucrative offices of First Clerk of the Green Cloth and Paymaster of the Forces.

Paymaster of the Forces

Immediately on his Restoration, King Charles II struggled to fund the new standing army, a concept invented by Oliver Cromwell during the Civil War and the following Commonwealth. The problem was solved by Fox, who was deemed "one of the financial wizards of his age", and from 1654 to 1660 had managed the finances of the exiled king with great success.
The king established a new office of Paymaster of the Forces, of which Fox was the first occupant, with premises in a wing of Horseguards in Whitehall. His success in restoring the financial position of the army stemmed from his ability to raise credit in the City of London, largely thanks to his reputation for honesty and reliability, which would later be repaid to him by the Treasury, when Parliament so voted. The yield from bills passed to this effect were often below that forecast, which in the absence of loans would leave the troops unpaid. Fox, however, was personally liable for the loans he raised, and to compensate him for the great risks he undertook, he was allowed to retain certain profits on his repayment by the Treasury. He charged the Treasury 6% on the funds he had borrowed, but much of that he repaid to his own creditors.
He was allowed other perquisites, including 2% bonus on capital and interest repaid to him by the Treasury, and "poundage" from 1667 which allowed him to retain 4 pence, and from 1668 one shilling, in every pound of army pay, ostensibly to cover administration costs, but in reality mostly profit. This therefore amounted to one twentieth of all army pay, an annual income for Fox of about £7,000, added to his official salary of £400 per annum, and whatever he could save from borrowing at rates below 6%. In just 20 months from January 1665 to September 1666 he advanced a total of £221,000 for army pay, on repayment of which he received interest from the Treasury of almost £13,000. In addition he received a further 2% bonus, worth another £3,000 and also poundage. This office he held for 15 years between 1661 and 1676, and for another year in 1679–1680.

Political career

In November 1661 he became a Member of Parliament for Salisbury. In 1665 he was knighted; was returned as a Member of Parliament for Westminster on 27 February 1679, and succeeded the Earl of Rochester as a Commissioner of the Treasury, filling that office for twenty-three years and during three reigns. In 1672 he bought the manor of Redlynch in Somerset, where he built a new house in 1708–1709.
In 1680 he resigned the paymastership and was made First Commissioner of Horse. In 1684 he became sole Commissioner of Horse. He was offered a peerage by King James II, on condition of converting to Roman Catholicism, but refused, in spite of which he was allowed to retain his commissionerships. In 1685 he was again an MP for Salisbury, and opposed the bill for a standing army supported by the king. During the Glorious Revolution, he maintained an attitude of decent reserve, but on James's flight, he submitted to the new King William III, who confirmed him in his offices. He was again elected for Westminster in 1691 and 1695, for Cricklade in 1698, and finally in 1713 once more for Salisbury.
It is his distinction to have founded Royal Hospital Chelsea, to which he contributed £13,000. As a statesman he was second-rate, but as a public servant he creditably discharged all the duties with which he was entrusted. Unlike some other statesmen of his day, he grew rich in the service of the nation without being suspected of corruption or forfeiting the esteem of his contemporaries.

Marriages and children

Fox married twice:
  • Firstly on 8 December 1651, at the age of 24, to Elizabeth Whittle, a daughter of William Whittle of the City of London, whose mural monument with bust survives in the Ilchester Chapel of Farley Church. His niece Margaret Fox, a daughter of his elder brother John, also married a member of the Whittle family. By Elizabeth Whittle he had seven sons, all of whom predeceased him, and three daughters, including:
  • *William Fox, eldest son, a captain in the army. A mural monument survives in the north cloister of Westminster Abbey inscribed in Latin and translated as follows: "Near this place, among the ashes of their three brothers Edward, John and Stephen, sleep William and James Fox, sons of the Honorable Sir Stephen Fox, Kt. and Elizabeth his wife. Parents and sons worthy each other, whom love made one in life, one distemper in death and one grave in burial. Each of them was embellished with useful learning, which their modesty seemed to conceal, and in their youth the man grew up with them. They were born for their country and to honours, which the eldest, being Captain in the army, acquired by his fatigues over all England. William died April 17, 1680 aged 20. James died November 19, 1677 aged 13".
  • *Charles Fox, 2nd son, a Member of Parliament for Salisbury and Paymaster of the Forces to Kings James II, William III and to Queen Anne. His mural monument survives in the Ilchester Chapel of Farley Church.
  • *Edward Fox, 4th son, died aged six, buried with his brother John Fox in Westminster Abbey, where survives his gravestone in the cloisters inscribed: Here lie interred two Children of the right Worshipful Sir Stephen Fox of Farley in the County of Wilts Knight, viz. Edward Fox, his fourth Son, aged six years and one month, who died on the nineteenth day of Octob. 1669. and John Fox his sixth son of the age of one year, who deceased upon the seventeenth day of Novemb. in the year of our Lord 1667.
  • *James Fox, 5th son, died of smallpox on 19 November 1677 aged 12, buried in the cloister of Westminster Abbey, where survives his mural monument inscribed in Latin as follows: Hic infra situs est, juxta Edwardi, Johannis, & Stephani, trium fratrum cineres, selectissimus Adolescentulus Jacobus Fox, honoratissimi Domini Steph. Fox Equiti Aurati & Elizabethae uxoris, filius natu quintus, parentes filio & filius parentibus quam dignissimus. Summa pietate, vel puer quoad Deum; singulari studio erga parentes, prisca simplicitate inter omnes, percarum Veneri & Apollini caput, indubitatus Adonis & Hyacinthus necnon per dotes animi & corporis, nunc Dei olim hominum amasius. O parentes miseremini parentum. O filii ex illo transcribite filium! O posteri vestrum deflete damnum. Vario literaturae genere excultus admirandi sua floruit Antithesis. Sub puero vir delituit alter in vitae cunabulis & in morte Hercules, dum morbillorum perfidia sublatus, videatur ex igne & tunicâ molestâ evolasse ad coelos. A. D. 13. Cal. Decemb. Anno Dom. 1677. aetatis 12. cum semisse..
  • *John Fox, 6th son, died aged one, as recorded on his gravestone in Westminster Abbey.
  • *Stephen Fox, died an infant, as recorded om his monument in Westminster Abbey.
  • *Elizabeth Fox, born at Tunbridge Wells, who in Westminster Abbey on 27 December 1673 married Charles Cornwallis, 3rd Baron Cornwallis, of Brome Hall in Suffolk. Her great-grandson was General Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis. Her mural monument with relief-sculpted bust survives in St Mary's Church, Brome.
  • *Jane Fox, wife of George Compton, 4th Earl of Northampton.
  • *3rd daughter, died young.
  • Secondly on 11 July 1703, aged 76, he married Christiana Hope, a daughter of Rev. Francis Hope, Rector of Aswarby, Lincolnshire, by his wife Christian Palfreyman. On her husband's monument in Farley Church are displayed the arms of the Scottish Clan Hope: Azure, a chevron or between three bezants. By Christiana Hope he had two sons and two daughters, including:
  • *Stephen Fox-Strangways, 1st Earl of Ilchester, eldest son, of Redlynch Park in Somerset, created Baron Ilchester and Stavordale in 1747 and Earl of Ilchester in 1756. In 1758 he took the additional surname of Strangways and his descendants, the family of Fox-Strangways, still hold the Earldom of Ilchester. They also still hold part of the valuable central London "Holland House estate", acquired by them on the extinction of the junior line of the Barons Holland.
  • *Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, of Holland House in Kensington, who followed his father into politics. Father of the Whig statesman Charles James Fox.
  • *Charlotte Fox, wife of Hon. Edward Digby, MP, of Wandsworth, 3rd son of William Digby, 5th Baron Digby.
  • *Christiana Fox, twin of Henry Fox, died an infant.