Charles James Fox

Charles James Fox (1749–1806) was a British Whig statesman celebrated as one of the most brilliant parliamentary orators in British history. The son of politician Henry Fox, Lord Holland, and great-great-grandson of King Charles II, Fox entered Parliament at nineteen. Dressing in the buff and blue colors of George Washington's army, he was King George III's fiercest and most hated parliamentary critic.

For over three decades, Fox was the champion of British civil liberties, religious toleration for Catholics and Dissenters, freedom of the press, and parliamentary reform. He championed the American Revolution, supported the ideals of the 1789 French Revolution, and formed a celebrated parliamentary rivalry with William Pitt the Younger. In his final months as Foreign Secretary in the Ministry of All the Talents in 1806, Fox introduced the resolution that led to the passage of the Slave Trade Act 1807.