The last twelve months or so have seen a major resurgence of interest in the iconography of Charles James Fox (1749–1806), the great eighteenth-century Whig politician, orator THE YEAR OF thE FOX and statesman. It coincides with a vigorous campaign to rehabilitate the reputation of George III (reigned 1760– 1820), popularly thought of as the ‘mad King’ who lost the American colonies. That cruel and inaccurate portrayal belies the King’s significant role as a patron of the arts, science and architecture during a period of extraordinary advancement in manufacturing and technology, as well as the development of the arts. David Wilson looks at how Fox is commemorated in stone – in busts, statues and monuments. Figure 1. Bust of Charles James Fox by Joseph Nollekens RA, signed and dated 1 March 1796. National Portrait Gallery, London. Private Collection; © Hilary Chelminski. Journal of Liberal History 50 Spring 2006 THE YEAR OF thE FOX eorge III’s achieve- only revealing the marriage to his Wales (who had himself been a ments have been family and friends in 1802 (Fig. 2). former lover of Mrs Armitstead much overshad- Fox is remembered for his and who was regularly with Fox owed by the extrav- opposition to the war with the at the racecourse and gambling agant and profligate American colonies, and his sup- tables). In 1788, during the tem- Gbehaviour of his eldest son, later port for the campaigns for Parlia- porary illness of the King, and Regent and in due course King mentary reform and the abolition without a care for the prospects George IV. Charles James Fox is of slavery. Fox held junior office of his political faction in the credited by many historians (and in the early 1770s and subse- Commons, Fox argued for the was certainly regarded by George quently was Britain’s first Foreign automatic Regency of his friend III) as the prime influence on the Secretary (in 1782, in the cabi- the Prince of Wales, thus denying Prince and as being responsible net headed for a few months by the right of Parliament to debate for leading the young George the Marquess of Rockingham). anything regarding the Prince, into a dissolute life of debauchery Thereafter, apart from two rela- and in the process destroying his and excess, which soured forever tively brief periods when he was party’s credibility as the defender the Prince’s relations with his in the cabinet (as Foreign Secre- of the rights of Parliament. These father. This recent interest in Fox tary, for most of 1783 and in the matters and a number of other has been greatly encouraged by eight months before his death in instances where Fox allowed the permanent display, since 2003, 1806), a combination of personal his passions to rule his intellect, of a magnificent eighteenth- grudges and his increasingly radi- secured for him a place in the century white marble portrait cal views became a barrier to his political wilderness, a landscape of bust of him by the great sculptor reappointment to high office, and which he was the chief cultivator. Joseph Nollekens RA in the new most of his career was spent in Despite his long parliamentary Regency galleries at the National opposition to the government. career, Fox’s total time in office Portrait Gallery (Fig. 1) and by a Although, through his elo- was only five years, including his project, undertaken with support quence and determination, he three periods as Foreign Secretary from English Heritage, to re- rose to become the leader of the Fox com- that totalled less than two years. landscape Bloomsbury Square in ‘official’ Whig opposition in the Fox’s political arch-enemy, London, the site of Richard West- House of Commons, his own bined a William Pitt, died in 1806, hav- macott RA’s posthumous statue temperament was his downfall. It ing held the premiership almost of Fox. These developments are a found expression in his support long politi- continuously from 1783 until prelude to celebrations to be held for the French Revolution and his death, with only one break in 2006 to mark the bicentenary his opposition to the war with cal career, between 1801 and 1804. Only of Fox’s death on 13 September France and to various measures spanning then was a ‘Ministry of all the Tal- 1806. (such as the suspension of habeas ents’ given the seals of office and Fox combined a long political corpus in 1794) enacted by a fear- thirty-five George III, recognising that Fox career, spanning thirty-five years, ful British government against its was now the only great statesman with an unconventional lifestyle: own citizens, some of whom were years, with alive, acquiesced in Fox’s appoint- he cohabited for many years with suspected of plotting insurrection. ment as Foreign Secretary and the famous courtesan, Elizabeth There were numerous disputes an uncon- the real head of the government Bridget Cane (commonly called with George III, especially over ventional under the nominal premiership of Mrs Armitstead) whom he subse- Fox’s relationship with the King’s Lord Grenville. Fox was, however, quently married in secret in 1795, unpopular son George, Prince of lifestyle. by then ill with dropsy, and died Journal of Liberal History 50 Spring 2006 THE YEAR OF THE FOX Figure 2. Mrs Armitstead, Figure 3. Mausoleum at Figure 4. Nollekens’ statue of Figure 5. Fox’s neo-classical engraving after Sir Joshua Wentworth Woodhouse, Charles Watson-Wentworth, temple at St. Anne’s Hill, Reynolds PRA, National Portrait Yorkshire, dedicated to the 2nd nd Marquess of Rockingham Chertsey, as it appeared in Gallery, London. Marquess of Rockingham. in Garter Robes, with the 197. Photograph courtesy of plaster replica bust of Fox in the Knight Frank. background, in the Mausoleum at Wentworth Woodhouse. 6 Journal of Liberal History 50 Spring 2006 THE YEAR OF THE FOX within months of taking office. members. Ironically, the friendship ‘Here is a missioned a replica of the bust Ironically, he was buried beside of Fox and Burke terminated irre- from Nollekens for the temple of Pitt in Westminster Abbey. trievably in 1791 following their man who political friendship at Wentworth Fox’s association with Rock- irreconcilable differences over Woodhouse. ingham and his deep and lifelong the French Revolution (which could dom- A number of the close political friendship with the Marquess’s Burke deplored), and a serious associates of Fitzwilliam and Fox heir and nephew, the fourth Earl breach occurred in the relation- inate the commissioned replicas of the bust. Fitzwilliam, led to the commission ship between Fox and Fitzwil- House of Some eleven are recorded, includ- of Nollekens’ bust of Fox. Model- liam when, in 1794, the latter and ing the bust now in the National ling of the bust probably started a number of other senior Whigs Commons, Portrait Gallery. That one was in 1789 and the marble was com- defected and went over to the specifically commissioned from pleted in 1791. The bust had been government, leaving Fox to pre- infuriate Nollekens by Fitzwilliam as a gift intended for a temple of political side over a disaffected and demor- for Fox’s partner, Mrs Armitstead, friendship at Wentworth Wood- alised ‘rump’ opposition whose the Tories to whom it is inscribed. The gift house in Yorkshire, the ancestral effectiveness was fatally damaged. by the lib- seems to have been something home of Rockingham, to whom Fitzwilliam was then appointed of a ‘peace offering’ and reflected the temple was dedicated by Fit- Lord Lieutenant of Ireland by Pitt, erality of a rapprochement between Fox zwilliam (Fig. 3). Rockingham but was not a success. and Fitzwilliam following the had also briefly held the premier- The bust of Fox, Nollekens’ his views, latter’s dismissal by Pitt from the ship between 1755 and 1756, dur- most famous production, has Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland in ing which time he secured the been described by leading experts and com- 1795. The bust was completed repeal of the infamous Stamp Act, as ‘commanding’ and as Nolle- mand the on 1 March 1796, when it was the much despised measure that kens’ ‘masterpiece in the Baroque despatched to St Anne’s Hill taxed the legal transactions of the manner’. As Margaret Whinney unswerv- at Chertsey, the country home Americans (and other colonists) has pointed out, ‘the flamboyance shared by Fox and Mrs Armit- who were nevertheless denied of Fox’s character has been seized ing loyalty stead, where they were very representation in Parliament. The to perfection and the grossness of happy together, became very temple (the work of the architect his physique has been emphasised of his keen gardeners, and where Fox John Carr of York) is described in rather than ignored. The swift friends.’ enjoyed the life of a country gen- both the estate accounts and in turn of the head with the curls tleman and indulged his passion correspondence as a ‘mausoleum’, jutting from it, and the piercing for classical literature. The bust although Rockingham (who eyes are all the more impressive stood in one of three niches in a died in July 1782 after only three against the bulk of the shoulders. small temple of friendship in the months in office) was not, in fact, Here is a man who could domi- grounds of St Anne’s Hill, that buried there, but in York Min- nate the House of Commons, had been erected in 1794 and ster. The temple, owned by the infuriate the Tories by the liberal- was dedicated to Fox’s nephew Fitzwilliam Wentworth Amenity ity of his views, and command the (and intended political successor) Trust, is open to the public for unswerving loyalty of his friends.’ Henry, third Lord Holland, with part of the year.