Statue Of Charles James Fox At North End Of Garden

Statue of Charles James Fox

This bronze statue of Charles James Fox is situated at the north end of Bloomsbury Square gardens, facing north. It was completed in April 1814 and erected in 1816. The sculptor was Richard Westmacott the younger.

The statue depicts Fox seated in consular robes and sandals. He holds the Magna Carta in his right hand; the seal of the scroll closely imitates the original in the British Museum. Fox is shown seated, reportedly because he was considered too portly to appear dignified standing.

The bronze figure stands on a granite pedestal with three steps and plinth of Portland stone. Each face of the pedestal contains a recessed panel. The north face bears an inscription in brass Roman letters (two of which are slightly damaged): 'CHARLES JAMES FOX / ERECTED / MDCCCXVI'.

Charles James Fox (1749–1806) was a prominent Whig politician born into the influential Fox family, son of Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, and Lady Caroline Lennox. He was educated at Eton as a classical scholar, attended Oxford (though did not graduate), and undertook a grand tour from 1766 to 1768 where he formed connections with European political and cultural leaders. At nineteen he became MP for Midhurst; in 1780 he was elected MP for Westminster, a seat he retained with brief interruption until his death.

Throughout his career Fox championed causes of liberty, supporting American independence, the French Revolution, the abolition of the slave trade, and Catholic emancipation. His personal reputation for gambling, drinking, and romantic excess was offset by his political eloquence and swift professional rise. Influenced by Edmund Burke, he became convinced that George III sought to undermine parliamentary government and became a leading figure in the Whig party. His support for American independence made him many enemies, including the king and Lord North. In 1783 Fox formed a short-lived coalition with North. He thereafter led opposition to William Pitt the younger, was eloquent in supporting the French Revolution whilst criticising Britain's war with France, and served as foreign minister in Lord Grenville's 'ministry of all the talents' from 1806, though his brief tenure was clouded by failed peace negotiations with Napoleon. Fox died in September 1806.

Fox had long opposed the slave trade, which he described as 'a practice so enormous, so savage, and so repugnant to all laws human and divine'. One of his last political acts was to move a resolution for the general abolition of the slave trade on 10 June 1806, declaring that the House should 'with all practicable expedition, proceed to take effectual measures for abolishing the said trade'. The Commons voted overwhelmingly in favour and the Lords assented on 25 June. For his supporters, the abolition of the slave trade became emblematic of the liberty Fox championed. Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford, built a temple of liberty at Woburn Abbey dedicated to Fox, with proposals including imagery of a slave crowned with the cap of liberty. Fox's memorial in Westminster Abbey, erected in 1822, likewise shows him appealing to Liberty on behalf of a kneeling slave.

The committee appointed to arrange Fox's memorial raised £12,450 (his friends having already paid for his funeral in Westminster Abbey, cleared his debts, and granted his wife a pension). It was decided that besides a marble monument in Westminster Abbey, a bronze statue should be erected. Richard Westmacott the younger was the sculptor of both. After completion in April 1814, various sites were considered. Bloomsbury Square, suggested by the 6th Duke of Bedford, was chosen as being in an area associated with the Whigs; Fox sits looking down Bloomsbury Place towards the statue of his friend the 5th Duke of Bedford, also by Westmacott. The statue was unveiled on 19 June 1816. A bronzed plaster cast was placed in the entrance hall of Holland House, the Fox family's London residence.

The statue was restored in 2006 to mark the bicentenary of Fox's death.