FOX FAMILY OF FALMOUTH

'Fox family of Falmouth'
The Fox family of Falmouth, Cornwall, U.K. were very influential in the development of the town in the 19th Century and of the Cornish Industrial Revolution^[1]. The family were Quakers but not related to George Fox (1624-1691), one of the founders of the movement. Two children of Robert Were the Younger kept journals, which were published in the 1970s and provide a good historical and literary resource for the mid-Nineteenth Century.

Contents

Children and grandchildren of George Fox of Par

Children of George Croker Fox the First (1727-1781) and Mary Were, his wife:

Children of R.W. Fox the Elder and Elizabeth Tregelles (1768-1848), his wife:

Children of R.W. Fox the Younger and Maria Barclay, his wife:

Other people:

Family friends, mentioned in the Journals of Caroline and Barclay Fox

Other relatives

Business interests of the Fox family

Ship broking

Iron founding

Metal mining

Coal Mining

Consulships

Other interests

Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society

References and sources

Children and grandchildren of George Fox of Par

George Fox of Par was the son of Francis Fox and his second wife, Tabitha Croker.
George Fox married twice, first, to Mary Bealing and, second, to Anna Debell^[2].
'Child of first marriage of George Fox to Mary Bealing'

★ Edward Fox of Wadebridge, married Anna Were. They had nine children, including

★
★ George Fox ("the Second") of Perranarworthal, Cornwall. George Fox managed the Perran Foundry until 1825, when the family moved to Exeter. His three daughters married three brothers called Crewdson^[3]. One of his daughters, Jane Crewdson, is celebrated as a hymn-writer^[4].

★
★ Thomas Fox of Wellington (textile manufacturer).

★
★ Edward Fox of Wadebridge.

★
★ Robert Were Fox (not to be confused with his cousin or cousin's son, both also called "Robert Were Fox").
'Children of George Fox's second marriage to Anna Debell'

★ George Croker Fox the First (1727-1781) (''See below'').

★ Joseph Fox (1729-1784) of Falmouth. He was a medical doctor, who settled in Falmouth. He married Elizabeth Hingston^[5].
They had eleven children, of whom the following also became medical doctors-

★
★ Joseph Fox (1754-1832), of Falmouth.

★
★ Edward Long Fox (1762-1835), lunatic asylum proprietor at Brislington and developer of Weston-super-Mare as a sea-bathing resort. He married twice and had 15 daughters and 8 sons ^[6].

★
★ Richard Fox of Falmouth (1764-1841). His son was called Joseph Fox and he also practiced medicine in Falmouth .

Children of George Croker Fox the First (1727-1781) and Mary Were, his wife:

George Croker Fox the First was the son of George Fox of Par and his second wife, Anna Debell.
In 1749, he and Mary Were were married. Their children were:

★ Robert Were Fox the Elder, (1754-1818), businessman.

★ George Croker Fox the Second (1752-1807)^[7], businessman and older brother of R.W. Fox the Elder. He married Catherine Young.

★
★ Their son, also called, George Croker Fox (d.1850)^[8], married Lucy Barclay (b.1783), whose sister, Maria, who married R.W. Fox the Younger. Lucy and Maria were daughters of Robert Barclay (1751-1830) of Bury Hill, near Dorking, Surrey^[9]. Lucy and George Croker Fox the Third had no children. He was the author of the following translations:

★
★
★ ''The Prometheus of Æschylus'' and the ''Electra of Sophocles''. Translated ... With notes, intended to illustrate the typical character of the former. Also, a few original poems. By George Croker Fox. London, Darton & Harvey, 1835.

★
★
★ ''The death of Demosthenes, and other original poems: with the Prometheus and Agamemnon of Æschylus'', translated from the Greek..; London, 1839.

★ Thomas Were Fox (1766-1844) married Mary Tregelles.

★ William Were Fox (d.1775)

★ Philip Fox (d.1775). William and Philip were drowned "in a great storm, off the coast of Holland."

★ Joshua Fox (?1752 - 1791)

★ Three other children.

Children of R.W. Fox the Elder and Elizabeth Tregelles (1768-1848), his wife:

★ Robert Were Fox the Younger (1789-1877), F.R.S. and businessman. (''See below'')

★ George Philip Fox (1790-1854)

★ Joshua Fox (1790-1887) of Tregenda, married Joanna Flannering ^[10], who died 1826. Three daughters:

★
★ Joanna Ellen Fox

★
★ Marie Louise Fox

★
★ Josephine Fox

★ Alfred Fox (1794-1894), businessman. Twelve children. (Details of his marriage and children are given in his Wikipedia article).

★ Henry (d.1809)

★ Charles Fox (scientist) (1797-1878) of Trebah, general manager of the Perran Foundry

★ Lewis Fox (d.1839)

★ Charlotte Fox (1801-1879) married Samuel Fox

★ Elizabeth Fox (1801-1837) married Will Gibbins (1791-1843)

★ Mariana Fox (1807-1863) married Francis Tuckett (1806-1868)

Children of R.W. Fox the Younger and Maria Barclay, his wife:

★ Anna Maria Fox (February 21,1816^[11]. – November 18,1897^[12]), promoter of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society.

★ Barclay Fox (1817–1855), author of ''Journal'', published in 1979 (Details of his marriage and children are given in his Wikipedia article).

★ Caroline Fox (1819–1871), author of ''Journal'', published in 1881^[13] and 1972^[14].

Other people:

Family friends, mentioned in the Journals of Caroline and Barclay Fox

★ Henry de la Beche

★ John Bright

★ Thomas Carlyle

★ Derwent Coleridge

★ William Forster

★ Davies Gilbert

★ Robert Hunt

★ Charles Kingsley

★ Charles Lemon

★ F.D.Maurice

★ John Stewart Mill

★ Dean Stanley

★ John Sterling

★ George Wightwick

View of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society, in Falmouth. The building was designed by ''George Wightwick''

Other relatives

★ Edmund Backhouse (MP) (1824–1906), son-in-law of Charles Fox.

★ Horace Pym, editor of Caroline Fox's ''Journal'', published 1881 and husband, successively of two of her relations.

★ Josiah Fox (1763-1847), naval architect and a relation of this family.

★ Charles Masson Fox (1866–1935), chess player.

★ Charles Fox (1740?–1809), poet and orientalist of Falmouth and Bristol. This Charles Fox is the subject of a DNB article^[15]. It is not clear whether or how he was related to other Falmouth Foxes.

★ Robert Barclay Fox (July 24, 1873 - April 22, 1934, Son of Robert Fox and Ellen Bassett, his wife. Cornwall County Councillor, High Sheriff of Cornwall, 1920-1921, Partner in G.C. Fox^[16].

Business interests of the Fox family

The family worked in partnership with other Quaker families, Tregelles of Falmouth and Price of South Wales and with the Methodist family of Williams. They intermarried with the Quaker families and other prominent Quaker mercantile families, such as Backhouse and Pease of Darlington, Hustler, Lloyd and Barclay of Bury Hill.

Ship broking

★ G.C. Fox (Shipping Brokers))^[17].

Iron founding

★ Perran Foundry

★
★ General manager of the Foundry: George Fox the Second ( -1825), Charles Fox (1825-1842), Barclay Fox (1842- )

★ Neath Abbey Iron Foundry.

Metal mining

★ Tin and Copper mining - supplying credit, pumping engines, imported materials: timber balks, coal. In partnership with the Williams family, developing the harbour at Portreath and a trackway to the mines from there. ^[18].

Portreath Harbour when the tide is out

Coal Mining

★ Neath Abbey Coal Company (in partnership with the Price and Tregelles families)^[19].

Consulships

★ Consulships of various foreign countries, held successively by members of the Fox family.

"'U.S. State Department FAQs': Have there been multi-generational foreign affairs families in U.S. history? . . . .
A family of English Quaker merchants named Fox were U.S. Consuls at Falmouth, England. Robert Were Fox served from 1794 to 1812, and again from 1815 to his death in 1818.
Robert Were Fox , Jr. served from 1819 to 1854 (their middle name is sometimes spelled "Weare" or "Ware"). Somehow the Consulate passed out of the family between 1854 and 1863. Two more generations of Foxes then served.
Alfred Fox was appointed in 1863, and Howard Fox served from 1874 until the post was closed in December 1905."^[20].

'U.S. Consuls'

★ 1792-1794 Edward Long Fox ^[21].

★ 1794-1812, 1815-1818 R.W.Fox the Elder.

★ 1818-1854 R.W. Fox the Younger.

★ 1854-1863 [Unknown]

★ 1863-1874 Alfred Fox, brother of R.W.Fox the Younger.

★ 1874-1905 Howard Fox, Son of Alfred Fox^[22].

Other interests

Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society

The idea for the foundation of the Society was created by the children of Robert Were Fox the Younger.
The first Committee of the "Poly", elected in January 1833, was rather dominated by Fox family members: "Dr. Fox , Mr & Mrs RW Fox, Mr & Mrs GC Fox, Mr TW Fox, Mr GP Fox, Mr & Mra A Fox, Mr J Fox, Mr & Mrs C Fox of Perran, Miss Fox and Misses AM and C Fox and Mr RB Fox of Bank."^[23]

References and sources

1. For a brief account of the activities of the family, see Brinley Morris's talk to the Falmouth Civic Society.
2. Redwood, U.M. (1989) ''A family of Quaker doctors'' photocopied electric typewriter text. Copy at Falmouth Public Library: Local History Reference Section.
3. H.A.F. Crewdson ''George Fox of Tredrea and his three daughters: a century of family history'';The Author, 1976. (Crewdson is a grandchild of George Fox II's daughter Eleanor. He bases his statements on extensive family correspondence and his grandmother's privately printed memoir ''Our childhood at Perran'').
4. C. W. Sutton ''Crewdson , Jane (1808–1863)'', rev. Clare Cotugno, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2007 [1], accessed 16 July 2007.
5. HINGSTON PEDIGREE Copied from a chart by JOHN ALLEN, of Liskeard; by ROBT. DYMOND, JUN., 1851. (including Fox & Tregelles marriages). and Richard Hingston of Penryn and his family (from a document of vague provenance) on Chris Burgoyne's website.
6. Names of Children of EL Fox listed at []
7. ''Old Falmouth'' by Susan E. Gay (1903). A portrait of George Croker Fox the Second is in Page 148 and an account of his family on pp. 149-160. Miss Gay was a personal acquaintance of Anna Maria Fox.
8. phpged database.
9. A family tree of the Barclays is on pages 26/26 of ''Barclay Fox's journal''. See 'Sources' below, for bibliographical details. Additional information from Barclay05 Family tree
10. Genealogy website
11. ''Barclay Fox's journal''. See 'Sources' below for bibliographical details.
12. ''Foxhound''
13. ''Memories of Old Friends Caroline Fox of Penjerrick, Cornwall'', See 'Sources' below for bibliographical details.
14. ''The journals of Caroline Fox, 1835–1871: a selection'', See 'Sources' below for bibliographical details.15. W. P. Courtney, ''Fox, Charles (1740?–1809)'', rev. Philip Carter, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2007 [2] accessed 16 July 2007.
16. ''Who was Who''
17. The counting house of G.C. Fox & Co. was at 48 Arwenack Street, Falmouth TR11 5JH, near the Custom House. The company ceased trading September 30, 2003. The building was refurbished in 2005 and is now a branch of the Great Atlantic Art Galleries.
18. "Cornish copper mining 1795-1830: economy, structure and change" by Jim Lewis 'in' ''Cornish Studies'' Vol 14 (2006), pp164-186; Exeter University Press, ISBN 0-85989-799-0. The reference to the Fox family is pp.171-172, 176, 178.
19. West Glamorgan Archive Service: papers of the Neath Antiquarian Society - Neath Abbey Coal Company. and History of Coal Mining in the Bryncoch Area
20. U.S. State Department FAQs
21. the Library of the U.S. State department says that this appointment was a mistake. They intended to appoint R.W. Fox.
22. U.S. State department.
23. Annual Report 1833

'Sources'

★ Crewdson, H.A.F. (1976) ''George Fox of Tredrea and his three daughters: a century of family history'' published by the Author.

★ The journals of Caroline Fox, 1835–1871: a selection, edited by Wendy Monk, , Caroline, Fox, Paul Elek, , ISBN 0-236-15447-8

★ Fox, Caroline (1881) ''Memories of Old Friends Caroline Fox of Penjerrick, Cornwall'' (edited by H. N. Pym, 1881; 2nd edition, 1882).

★ Barclay Fox's journal, edited by by Raymond Brett, , Robert Barclay, Fox, Bell and Hyman, , ISBN 0-7135-1865-0 U.S. edition, Rowman & Littlefield (1979), Totowa, N.J. ISBN 0-8476-6187-3

★ Gay, Susan E. (1903) ''Old Falmouth: the story of the town from the days of the Killigrews to the earliest part of the Nineteenth century'', London, Headley Brothers.

★ Caroline Fox, , Wilson, Harris, Constable, ,

★ Redwood, U.M. (1989) ''A family of Quaker doctors'' photocopied electric typewriter text. Copy at Falmouth Public Library: Local History Reference Section.

★ Caroline Fox, Quaker bluestocking: 1819-1871, , Robert, Tod, William Sessions Limted, , ISBN 0-9006575-4-5
'Online'

★ The Foxhound online database of people with surname "Fox"