Lady Caroline Lennox was the eldest of the four acclaimed Lennox sisters that captivated and scandalised Georgian society in the mid 1750s. Caroline, Emily, Louisa and Sarah’s father Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond was the grandson of King Charles II and his French mistress Louise de Kerouaille. He and Sarah Cadogan married in 1719 as a result of a deal struck by their fathers to settle a gambling debt.
Caroline was their first child, born on 27th March 1723 at Richmond House in Whitehall, London and she was christened Georgiana Carolina. Her youngest sibling Cecilia was born in 1750. (Ceciiia died in 1769).
Cricket loving Charles, 2nd Duke of Richmond was a courtier, an army Lieutenant-General, politician and a patron of charities. Sarah, 2nd Duchess of Richmond was intelligent and compassionate and she served as a lady of the bedchamber to Queen Caroline, the wife of King George II. She loved to collect shells and she instilled this hobby in her daughters. The Richmond’s ancestral country home, Goodwood House in Sussex has a grotto that bears testimony to this. Caroline and her sisters were used to being in the company of royalty.
Caroline Lennox Elopes
In 1744 Caroline was charmed by Henry Fox, a politician 18 years her senior. A protégé of Britain’s first Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole, he was called unscrupulous and he’d squandered his inheritance. The duke and duchess wanted the best dynastic marriage for their eldest daughter, meaning a title, an excellent social standing, property and wealth.
Caroline tried hard to persuade them to agree to a marriage but they withheld their permission, presumably hoping that Caroline would tire of Henry Fox or vice versa. They were stunned when Caroline and Henry did the unthinkable: They eloped.
The new Mrs. Fox’s relationship with her parents suffered. Despite this, Caroline and Henry’s marriage was successful. Their son Stephen (Ste) was born in 1745, Henry Charles was born and died in 1746, Charles James arrived in 1749 and Henry Edward completed the family in 1755. As adults, the older two sons spoilt behaviour, gambling and womanising embarrassed Caroline and Henry.
From 1746, the Fox’s splendid home was Holland House in Holland Park, London. The property and 64 acres of land was rented to them by Henry’s friend William Edwardes, Baron Kensington. The Fox’s hosted impressive political events and parties. Henry purchased more property and land as the years passed.
Charles, 2nd Duke of Richmond’s Revenge on Caroline
The 2nd Duke of Richmond died in August 1750 and the duchess passed away in August 1751. Both of them were in their forties. Caroline’s brother Charles became the 3rd duke in 1750.
The late duke’s will betrayed his lingering anger about Caroline’s elopement. She didn’t receive anything and the responsibility of raising her siblings didn’t fall to her as everyone expected, but to Emily, the next oldest Lennox sister. Since 1747 Emily had been married to James FitzGerald, 20th Earl of Kildare, the future 1st Duke of Leinster, and they lived in Ireland. The younger Lennox children travelled to Ireland as Caroline bore the insults meted out by her father with fortitude. She concentrated on her own children in London. Aged 13, Sarah moved into Caroline’s home.
Sarah Lennox Causes a Scandal; Caroline Fox Blamed
The Kildare’s blamed Henry and Caroline Fox’s scandalous elopement for King George III’s reluctance to marry Sarah Lennox, whom he was known to admire. Sarah had been a favourite of George II and hopes were high in the Lennox family that a royal match would be achieved. Emily and James were unfair; George was expected to marry another royal and Sarah was not of legitimate royal blood so a union was improbable. She was a bridesmaid at his wedding to Princess Charlotte of Mecklenberg-Strelitz on 8th September 1761.
Sarah married Charles Bunbury on 2nd June 1762. She embarked on an affair with William Gordon, bore his child and then she ran off with him. Gordon discarded her and the baby and she asked Bunbury to take her back and instead he started divorce proceedings. Divorce in the Georgian era was enough to ruin someone. Sarah resisted the legal action but eventually Bunbury succeeded. She quietly married again and this union was happy. As the Kildare’s blamed Caroline and Henry for Sarah’s royal rejection it was easy for them to attribute her fall from grace to them. Caroline and Emily argued and they were estranged until the last days of Caroline’s life.
Emily became infamous for going through 22 pregnancies and for having a relationship with her children’s tutor William Ogilvie. The Duke of Leinster died in November 1773 and she married Ogilvie in August 1774.
Caroline Fox, 1st Baroness Holland Dies 23 Days After Her Husband
Henry Fox was named as a potential prime minister until rumours about him misappropriating funds while in the role of Paymaster General ended any hopes for the top job. He retired from politics in 1765.
On 3rd May 1762 Lady Caroline Fox was given the title of Baroness Holland of Holland in the County of Lincoln by King George III. The following April, Henry Fox was made Baron Holland of Foxley. He was disappointed that it wasn’t an earldom.
Caroline’s health wasn’t strong in her later years and she was often in pain. She died on 24th July 1774, just 23 days after Henry died from a stroke. They were buried at All Saint’s Church in Farley, Wiltshire.
Their sons received legacies of land and money. Ste became the 2nd Baron Holland twice over as he took his mother’s and father’s titles but he died on Boxing Day 1774. His son Henry Vassell-Fox was the 3rd baron of both baronies. Henry’s son Henry, the 4th baron, died in 1859 without any heirs and the titles became extinct.
The 3rd Duke of Richmond married but he had no legitimate children so when he died in 1806 his titles passed to his nephew Charles. The Lennox line continues to the present day and Charles Gordon-Lennox is the 11th Duke of Richmond.
Caroline’s birthplace Richmond House was destroyed by fire in 1791 and it was replaced by Richmond Terrace and the present day Richmond House is a government building. Holland House was bombed during the Second World War and only part of it remains.
Caroline, Emily, Louisa and Sarah’s story was told in Stella Tillyard’s book Aristocrats, later turned into a BBC drama.
