Arms of Fox-Strangways: Quarterly of four: 1st & 4th: Sable, two lions passant paly of six argent and gules (Strangways); 2nd & 3rd: Ermine, on a chevron azure three fox's heads and necks erased or on a canton of the second a fleur-de-lys of the third (Fox).[1]
Earl of Ilchester is a title in the
Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1756 for
Stephen Fox, 1st Baron Ilchester, who had previously represented
Shaftesbury in Parliament. He had already been created Baron Ilchester, of Ilchester in the County of Somerset in 1741, and Baron Ilchester and Stavordale, of Redlynch, in the County of Somerset, in 1747. These titles were also in the
Peerage of Great Britain. All three peerages were created with remainder, failing heirs male of his own, to his younger brother
Henry Fox, who was himself created
Baron Holland in 1763. The brothers were the only sons from the second marriage of the politician
Sir Stephen Fox.
In 1758 the first Earl assumed by Royal licence the additional surname of Strangways, which was the maiden name of his wife's maternal grandmother. He was succeeded by his eldest son, the second Earl. He represented
Midhurst in Parliament. His eldest son, the third Earl, served as
Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard from 1835 to 1841 in the
Whigadministration of
Lord Melbourne and was also
Lord Lieutenant of Somerset from 1837 to 1839. Lord Ilchester survived both his sons and was succeeded by his half-brother, the fourth Earl. He was Ambassador to the
German Confederation from 1840 to 1849. His nephew, the fifth Earl, was
Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms from 1873 to 1874 in the
Liberalgovernment of
William Ewart Gladstone and also served as
Lord Lieutenant of Dorset from 1885 to 1905. On the death in 1964 of his grandson, the seventh Earl, the line of the eldest son of the first Earl failed. The seventh Earl was succeeded by his fourth cousin, the eighth Earl. As of 2014[update] the titles are held by his grandson, the tenth Earl, who succeeded his uncle in 2006.
Robin Maurice Fox-Strangways, 10th Earl of Ilchester (born 2 September 1942) is the son of Raymond George Fox-Strangways, younger son of the 8th Earl, and his wife Margaret Vera Force. He was educated at
Loughborough College and had a career with Lloyds Bank. In 2003 he was living at
Frankton, Warwickshire. On 2 July 2006 he succeeded to the peerages.[4]
On 19 July 1969, he married Margaret Elizabeth Miles, daughter of Geoffrey Miles, and they had two children:[4]
Simon James Fox-Strangways, Lord Stavordale (1972–2018)
Lady Charlotte Helen Fox-Strangways (born 1974), who had a career in nursing and married Stephen Hobin[4]
The
heir presumptive (and last in line to the earldom) is the present peer's younger brother Paul Andre Fox-Strangways (born 1950), a university lecturer.[4]