Colonel
Somerset Fox
MP
MP for Ludlow
In office
1670–1679
Personal details
Born1618
Caynham, Shropshire
Died1689
Ludlow
NationalityEnglish
Parent(s)Somerset Fox (d.1643); Anne Long
OccupationLandowner, soldier, conspirator, politician
Military service
Allegiance Royalists
Years of service1642 to 1646
RankColonel
Battles/warsFirst English Civil War
Siege of Bristol

Somerset Fox (18 January 1618 – 1689) occasionally spelled Sommerset or Summerset Fox, was an English Royalist soldier and landowner who fought in the First English Civil War. Following the war he was accused of taking part in Gerard's conspiracy to assassinate Oliver Cromwell and pleaded guilty to a charge of high treason, one of only two men in English history to do so.

Fox escaped the death penalty, though was sentenced to transportation. After the restoration of the monarchy he served as Member of Parliament for Ludlow.

Biography

Fox was born in 1618 at Caynham, Shropshire, the eldest son of landowner Somerset Fox of Gwernygo, Montgomeryshire, and Anne, daughter of Sir Walter Long.[1] Fox's father was the son of Sir Edward Fox and his wife Elizabeth Somerset, granddaughter of the Earl of Worcester. The Fox family had been involved in the administration of the Ludlow area of Shropshire since the 15th century.[2]

Fox matriculated at the University of Leiden in 1633.[3] During the English Civil War he rose to the post of colonel in the Royalist army, having previously seen military service on the Continent; he served under Prince Rupert in the garrison of Bristol.[2] In 1646 he was involved in surrendering the garrison of Ludlow to Parliamentary forces under John Birch, following which he went into exile.[2]

In May 1654 Fox, Peter Vowell, and Fox's cousin John Gerard were arrested for plotting to attack Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell's bodyguard with a party of cavalry, and to assassinate him as he travelled to Hampton Court. Fox's role was allegedly to recruit apprentices for the plot.[4] At their trial by the High Court of Justice sitting in Westminster Hall on 30 June 1654, Fox pleaded guilty.[4] He was one of only two men accused of treason ever to do so, the other being John Amery in 1945. Vowell and Gerard were found guilty and executed. As he had confessed, Fox was sentenced to be transported to Barbados,[5] though he appears to have still been in England as late as 1656.[2]

Fox returned after the Restoration and was granted a pension of £300 by Charles II. He was elected to the constituency of Ludlow in a 1670 by-election during the "Cavalier Parliament".[2] He died unmarried at Ludlow in 1689.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Morris, E. Rowley (1893) "History of the Parish of Kerry" in Collections Historical and Archaeological relating to Montgomeryshire, v XXVI, Powysland Club, p.103
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Henning (1983) The House of Commons, 1660-1690, Boydell & Brewer, p.356
  3. ↑ Beukers, H. "Medicine in Leiden in the 1630s" in Todd and Murphy (eds) () A man very well studyed: New Contexts for Thomas Browne, Brill, p.62
  4. 1 2 Anonymous (2002) [1654]. "The Triall of Mr. John Gerhard, Mr. Peter Vowell, and Sommerset Fox, by the High court of Justice sitting in Westminster Hall on Friday 30 June, 1654" (Renascence ed.). University of Oregon.
  5. ↑ Mills, Jane (5 March 2011). "Cromwell Britain - Islington, London". Oliver Cromwell. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  6. ↑ Morris (1893), p.106
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