Henry Fox 1st Baron Holland Foxley 1705 1774 British politician Whig Secretary for War Southern Paymaster forces Politic
Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, of Foxley, MP, PC (28 September 1705 – 1 July 1774 in Holland House) was a leading British politician of the 18th century. He identified primarily with the Whig faction. He notably held the posts of Secretary for War, Southern Secretary and Paymaster of the forces, from which he enriched himself, but while widely tipped as a future Prime Minister, he never held that office. He was the father of Charles James Fox. In 1757, in the rearrangements of the government, Fox was ultimately excluded from the Cabinet, and given the post of Paymaster of the Forces. The office of Paymaster of the Forces had a continuous history from 1662, when Henry Fox's own father, Sir Stephen Fox, had been the first tenant. Before his time it had been the custom to appoint Treasurers at War, ad hoc, for this or that campaign; the practice of the Protectorate Government foreshadowing, however, a permanent office. Within a generation of the Restoration the status of the Paymastership began to change. In 1692 the then Paymaster, the earl of Ranelagh, was sworn of the privy council; and thereafter every Paymaster, or when there were two Paymasters at least one of them, was sworn of the council if not already a member. From the accession of Queen Anne the Paymaster tended to change with the Ministry, and 18th century appointments must be considered as made not upon merit alone, but by merit and political affiliation, the office becoming a political prize and perhaps potentially the most lucrative that a parliamentary career had to offer. During the war, Fox devoted himself mainly to accumulating a vast fortune. The British army expanded a great deal during these years giving him further scope for irregularities. He was by some estimates calculated to have amassed £400,000 in his eight years in the office, an average of £50,000 a year. Around 1760 he built the original Kingsgate Castle near Broadstairs in Kent, of which only the tower now remains.
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