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Henry Edward Fox, 4th Baron Holland of Holland, 4th Baron Holland of Foxley (7 May 1802 – 18 December 1859) was briefly a British Whig politician and later an ambassador.

Early life

Fox was born at

Holland House, London Holland House, originally known as Cope Castle, was an early Jacobean country house in Kensington, London, situated in a country estate that is now Holland Park. It was built in 1605 by the diplomat Sir Walter Cope. The building later passed ...

, the eldest legitimate child of the 3rd Baron Holland and his wife, Elizabeth Vassall, and was educated at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniq ...

Career

Selections from the entertaining journal, Fox kept from 1818 to 1830 were published in 1923, edited by his cousin and eventual heir Lord Ilchester (''The Journal of the Hon. Henry Edward Fox''). In it, he records his life in British high society and his travels, his encounters with such notables as Talleyrand, Samuel Rodgers, Sydney Smith and Lord Byron (and Byron's mistress, Teresa Guiccioli, with whom Fox had an affair which he recounts in some detail). Fox briefly held the seat of

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

from 1826 to 1827 before joining the

Diplomatic Service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtains diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to o ...

in 1831, after which he was Secretary to the Legation at

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

from 1832 to 1835, Attaché at

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, Secretary at the Embassy in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

from 1835 1838, to the

German Confederation The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...

in 1838, and to

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

from 1839 to 1846.

Marriage and progeny

George Frederic Watts (1817-1904) - Mary Augusta, Lady Holland (1812-89) - RCIN 407170 - Royal Collection

On 9 May 1833, Fox married Lady Mary Augusta Coventry (11 May 1812 – 23 September 1889), a daughter of

George Coventry, 8th Earl of Coventry George William Coventry, 8th Earl of Coventry (16 October 1784 – 15 May 1843), styled Viscount Deerhurst from 1809 to 1831, was a British peer and Tory Member of Parliament. Early life Coventry was the eldest son of George Coventry, 7th Ear ...

, by whom he three children, who all died as infants:The peerage and baronetage of the british empire as at present existing arranged and printed..., 1859, p. 307.
etrieved 6 December 2014 *Stillborn son (10 October 1838). *A son (born and died 7 March 1842). *Stillborn daughter (8 August 1844).

Adopted daughter

Unable to have surviving offspring, they adopted a 3 month old girl born in France, Marie Fox, later ''Princess of Liechtenstein'', the wife of Prince Louis of Liechtenstein. Her mother's name was given as Frenchwoman Victoire Magny of

Soissons Soissons () is a commune in the northern French department of Aisne, in the region of Hauts-de-France. Located on the river Aisne, about northeast of Paris, it is one of the most ancient towns of France, and is probably the ancient capital o ...

, but the identity of her father was unspecified. She was baptised at the Church of St. Augustine as Marie Henriette Adélaïde. When she was three months old, she was found by a

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

called Dr. Séguin, who arranged for her to be adopted by

Henry Edward Fox, 4th Baron Holland Henry Edward Fox, 4th Baron Holland of Holland, 4th Baron Holland of Foxley (7 May 1802 – 18 December 1859) was briefly a British Whig politician and later an ambassador. Early life Fox was born at Holland House, London, the eldest legitim ...

, and his wife, the former Lady Mary Augusta Coventry. Lord and Lady Holland had no biological children of their own, having gone through two stillbirths and one short-lived child. Lady Holland was in her late thirties and Lord Holland insisted on adopting the girl. Her biological paternity remains a mystery; one rumour had it that she was her adoptive father's biological daughter born by his

servant A domestic worker or domestic servant is a person who works within the scope of a residence. The term "domestic service" applies to the equivalent occupational category. In traditional English contexts, such a person was said to be "in service ...

. She wrote a two-volume history of Holland House, published in 1874. As Lord Holland died without male issue, in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

, his titles became extinct.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Henry 1802 births 1859 deaths British diplomats Fox, Henry UK MPs 1826–1830 Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies

Henry Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...