Caroline Fox, 1st Baroness Holland

Who was Caroline Fox, 1st Baroness Holland?

Georgiana Carolina Fox, 1st Baroness Holland, of Holland, known as Lady Caroline Lennox before 1744 and as Lady Caroline Fox from 1744 to 1762, was the eldest of the Lennox Sisters, immortalised in Stella Tillyard's book Aristocrats, and the television series based on it.

The Lennox sisters were daughters of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, who was the grandson of Charles II of England through the King's relationship with Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth. In 1744, Lady Caroline eloped with Henry Fox, a politician who was eighteen years her senior. Though her parents disapproved of the marriage, it proved a very happy one. The couple had four sons, including the great Whig politician, Charles James Fox and the general Henry Edward Fox. Their home, Holland House, Kensington, was a social and political gathering place.

Lady Caroline's favorite sister, Emily Lennox, married and went to live in Ireland in 1747. In 1750 and 1751, the Lennox sisters' parents died in quick succession, leaving three younger daughters, Louisa, Sarah, and Cecilia, aged eight, six, and one.