Family and Education

b. 5 July 1730, 1st s. of Hon. Edward Digby, M.P., by Charlotte, da. of Sir Stephen Fox, sis. of Henry Fox and Stephen, 1st Earl of Ilchester; gd.-s. of William Digby, 5th Baron Digby [I]. educ. Westminster 1739; Magdalen, Oxf. 1747. unm. suc. gd.-fa. as 6th Baron Digby 27 Nov. 1752.

Offices Held

Groom of the bedchamber to Prince of Wales 1751-3.

Biography

Digby’s return for Malmesbury was arranged by his uncle Henry Fox, with whom he was on the closest terms. In 1754 he considered standing for Dorset where he had large estates, but withdrew when an expensive and exhausting contest seemed inevitable. He stood for Wells with Fox’s support, and was returned at the head of the poll. In Parliament he naturally followed Fox, but, suffering from ill-health, he seems to have cared little about politics. His main ambition was to obtain either a British peerage or an Irish earldom. In March 1757, when Fox was attempting to form an Administration, he asked for a peerage for Digby1 and appears to have obtained some kind of promise from the King.2 But Digby, who had become a complete invalid after a gall-stone operation in 1756, died on 30 Nov. 1757 still only an Irish baron.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: Mary M. Drummond

Notes

• 1. Fox to Ilchester, 4 Mar. 1757, Letters to H. Fox, ed. Ilchester.
• 2. Fox to Duke of Devonshire, 29 May 1757, Devonshire mss.