Earldom of Ilchester
Arms of Fox-Strangways: Quarterly of four: 1st & 4th:Sable, two lions passant paly of six argent and gules (Strangways); 2nd & 3rd:Ermine, on a chevron azure three fox's heads and necks erased or on a canton of the second a fleur-de-lys of the third (Fox).[1]
Creation date	1756
Created by	George II
Peerage	Peerage of Great Britain
First holder	Stephen Fox-Strangways, 1st Earl of Ilchester
Present holder	Robin Maurice Fox-Strangways, 10th Earl of Ilchester
Heir presumptive	Paul Andre Fox-Strangeways
Subsidiary titles	Baron Ilchester Baron Ilchester and Stavordale
Former seat(s)	Melbury House Holland House

Earl of Ilchester is a title in thePeerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1756 forStephen Fox, 1st Baron Ilchester, who had previously representedShaftesbury in Parliament. He had already been createdBaron Ilchester, of Ilchester in the County of Somerset in 1741, andBaron Ilchester and Stavordale, of Redlynch, in the County of Somerset, in 1747. These titles were also in thePeerage of Great Britain. All three peerages were created with remainder, failing heirs male of his own, to his younger brotherHenry Fox, who was himself createdBaron Holland in 1763. The brothers were the only sons from the second marriage of the politicianSir Stephen Fox.

In 1758 the first Earl assumed by Royal licence the additional surname of Strangways, which was the maiden name of his wife's maternal grandmother. He was succeeded by his eldest son, the second Earl. He representedMidhurst in Parliament. His eldest son, the third Earl, served asCaptain of the Yeomen of the Guard from 1835 to 1841 in theWhigadministration ofLord Melbourne and was alsoLord Lieutenant of Somerset from 1837 to 1839. Lord Ilchester survived both his sons and was succeeded by his half-brother, the fourth Earl. He was Ambassador to theGerman Confederation from 1840 to 1849. His nephew, the fifth Earl, wasCaptain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms from 1873 to 1874 in theLiberalgovernment ofWilliam Ewart Gladstone and also served asLord Lieutenant of Dorset from 1885 to 1905. On the death in 1964 of his grandson, the seventh Earl, the line of the eldest son of the first Earl failed. The seventh Earl was succeeded by his fourth cousin, the eighth Earl. As of 2014^[update] the titles are held by his grandson, the tenth Earl, who succeeded his uncle in 2006.

The family seat wasMelbury House, nearEvershot,Dorset. The family, through Ilchester Estates, owns and manages large portions of land in the county ofDorset and theHolland House estate west ofHolland Park inKensington,London.^[2] The family inherited much land in the 17th century from the Wadham family ofMerryfield, Ilton in Somerset and ofEdge, Branscombe in Devon, and in 1874 from their distant cousins the Fox family ofHolland House, Kensington.

• Stephen Fox-Strangways, 1st Earl of Ilchester (1704–1776)
• Henry Thomas Fox-Strangways, 2nd Earl of Ilchester (1747–1802)
• Henry Stephen Fox-Strangways, 3rd Earl of Ilchester (1787–1858)
• William Thomas Horner Fox-Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795–1865)
• Henry Edward Fox-Strangways, 5th Earl of Ilchester (1847–1905)
• Giles Stephen Holland Fox-Strangways, 6th Earl of Ilchester (1874–1959)
• Edward Henry Charles James Fox-Strangways, 7th Earl of Ilchester (1905–1964)
• Walter Angelo Fox-Strangways, 8th Earl of Ilchester (1887–1970)^{[citation needed]}
• Maurice Vivian de Touffreville Fox-Strangways, 9th Earl of Ilchester (1920–2006)
• Robin Maurice Fox-Strangways, 10th Earl of Ilchester (b. 1942)

Robin Maurice Fox-Strangways, 10th Earl of Ilchester (born 2 September 1942) is the son of Raymond George Fox-Strangways, younger son of the 8th Earl, and his wife Margaret Vera Force. He was educated atLoughborough College and had a career with Lloyds Bank. In 2003 he was living atFrankton, Warwickshire. On 2 July 2006 he succeeded to the peerages.^[4]

On 19 July 1969, he married Margaret Elizabeth Miles, daughter of Geoffrey Miles, and they had two children:^[4]

• Simon James Fox-Strangways, Lord Stavordale (1972–2018)
• Lady Charlotte Helen Fox-Strangways (born 1974), who had a career in nursing and married Stephen Hobin^[4]

Theheir presumptive (and last in line to the earldom) is the present peer's younger brother Paul Andre Fox-Strangways (born 1950), a university lecturer.^[4]

• Baron Holland
• Charles James Fox

• Hesilrige, Arthur G. M. (1921).Debrett's Peerage and Titles of courtesy. 160A,Fleet street,London, UK:Dean & Son. p. 498.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
• Montague-Smith, Patrick Wykeham (1968).Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage. Kelly's Directories Ltd,Kingston-upon-Thames. p. 607.
• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors).Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,^{[page needed]},^{[page needed]}
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages^{[self-published source][better source needed]}
• Fox-Strangways, Earls of Ilchester, archive (ref:D/FSI), estate and family papers, 965-1900s, held at theDorset History Centre

• Earls of Ilchester
• Earldoms in the Peerage of Great Britain
• Fox family (English aristocracy)
• Noble titles created in 1756

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from April 2022
• Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2014
• All articles containing potentially dated statements
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from October 2020
• CS1 maint: location
• Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from February 2013
• All accuracy disputes
• Accuracy disputes from February 2012
• All articles lacking reliable references
• Articles lacking reliable references from February 2012
• Wikipedia articles incorporating an LRPP template without an unnamed parameter