Henry Digby, 1st Earl Digby (21 July 1731 – 25 September 1793) was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 peer and Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

.

Digby was the younger son of Hon. Edward Digby, son of William Digby, 5th Baron Digby

William Digby, 5th Baron Digby

William Digby, 5th Baron Digby was a British peer and Member of Parliament.Digby was a younger son of Kildare Digby, 2nd Baron Digby, and Mary Gardiner. In 1686 he succeeded his elder brother as fifth Baron Digby. This was an Irish peerage and did not entitle him to a seat in the English House of...

. His mother was Charlotte Fox, daughter of Sir Stephen Fox

Stephen Fox

Sir Stephen Fox was an English politician.-Life:Stephen Fox was the son of William Fox, of Farley, in Wiltshire, a yeoman farmer...

. Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland

Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland

Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, of Foxley, MP, PC was a leading British politician of the 18th century. He identified primarily with the Whig faction...

, was his uncle and Charles James Fox

Charles James Fox

Charles James Fox PC , styled The Honourable from 1762, was a prominent British Whig statesman whose parliamentary career spanned thirty-eight years of the late 18th and early 19th centuries and who was particularly noted for being the arch-rival of William Pitt the Younger...

 his cousin. Digby was elected to the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 for Ludgershall

Ludgershall (UK Parliament constituency)

Ludgershall was a parliamentary borough in Wiltshire, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1295 until 1832, when the borough was abolished by the Great Reform Act.- 1295–1640 :- 1640–1832 :- Sources :...

 in 1755, a seat he held until 1761, and then represented Wells

Wells (UK Parliament constituency)

Wells is a county constituency centred on the city of Wells in Somerset. It elects one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, by the first past the post voting system...

 between 1761 and 1765. From 1763 to 1765, he was a Lord of the Admiralty. In 1757 he succeeded his elder brother as the 7th Baron Digby but as this was an Irish peerage

Peerage of Ireland

The Peerage of Ireland is the term used for those titles of nobility created by the English and later British monarchs of Ireland in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland. The creation of such titles came to an end in the 19th century. The ranks of the Irish peerage are Duke, Marquess, Earl,...

 it did not entitle him to sit in the British House of Lords and did not force him to resign his seat in the House of Commons. However, in 1765 Digby was created 1st Baron Digby, of Sherborne in the County of Dorset, in the Peerage of Great Britain

Peerage of Great Britain

The Peerage of Great Britain comprises all extant peerages created in the Kingdom of Great Britain after the Act of Union 1707 but before the Act of Union 1800...

 and with remainder to the male issue of his father. From 1771 to 1793 Lord Digby served as Lord Lieutenant of Dorset

Lord Lieutenant of Dorset

The Office of the Lord Lieutenant was created during the reign of Henry VIII, taking over the military duties of the Sheriff and control of the military forces of the Crown. From 1569, there was provision for the appointment of Deputies, and in 1662 the Lord-Lieutenant was given entire control of...

. In 1790 he was further honoured when he was 1st Viscount Coleshill and 1st Earl Digby in the Peerage of Great Britain, with remainder to his heirs male.

Lord Digby married, firstly, Elizabeth Feilding, daughter of Hon. Charles Feilding, in 1763. They had no children. After his first wife's death in 1765 he married, secondly, Mary Knowler, daughter of John Knowler, in 1779. Lord Digby died in September 1793, aged 62, and was succeeded in his title by his eldest son Edward

Edward Digby, 2nd Earl Digby

Edward Digby, 2nd Earl Digby , known as Viscount Coleshill from 1790 to 1793, was a British peer.Digby was the eldest son of Henry Digby, 1st Earl Digby, and Mary Knowler. He succeeded his father in the earldom in 1793 and was able to take his seat in the House of Lords on his twenty-first birthday...

. The Countess Digby died in 1794. William Wingfield

William Wingfield (MP)

William Wingfield KC, MP , was an attorney, judge, and Member of Parliament in 19th century England.-Early years:...

married Lady Charlotte-Maria (died 1807), Digby's eldest daughter.