Robert Were Fox the Elder
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Robert Were Fox (5 July 1754 – 1818) was a Quaker businessman who lived in Falmouth.
Life and work
Fox was born in Fowey, Cornwall, in the United Kingdom, and married Elizabeth Tregelles (1768–1849) in 1788. The couple had six sons, including Charles Fox of Trebah, Robert Were Fox FRSPhilip Payton, ‘Fox, Robert Were (1754–1818)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/42083 accessed 13 Jan 2009] of Penjerrick Garden and Alfred Fox of Glendurgan. They also had two daughters: Mariana Fox (1807–1863), who married Francis Tuckett of Frenchay and became the mother of the mountaineer Francis Fox Tuckett,{{cite web|url=http://www.frenchaymuseumarchives.co.uk/Archives/PagesBiogy/Tuckett/Tuckett_Mariana.htm|title=Mariana Tuckett nee Fox|work=Winterbourne Family History Online|publisher=Frenchay Village Museum|accessdate=2009-01-13}}{{cite web|url=http://www.frenchaymuseumarchives.co.uk/Archives/PagesBiogy/Tuckett/Tuckett_FF.htm|title=Francis Fox Tuckett|work=Winterbourne Family History Online|publisher=Frenchay Village Museum|accessdate=2009-01-13}} and Charlotte, born in 1799, who married Samuel Fox of Tottenham.Annual Monitor 1879 p.68-78, available online at [https://archive.org/details/annualmonitoran00unkngoog The Internet Archive].
The Fox family were Quakers, descended from George Fox of Fowey and his wife, Anna Debell. Robert Were Fox was the son of George Croker Fox and his wife, Mary Were.Pages 26/27 of Barclay Fox's Journal It was George Croker Fox founded a Falmouth ship-brokering business that continued into the 21st century.
Under Robert Were Fox's management, the family's business interests expanded into copper mining, tin smelting, and foundry work, in partnership with the Williams family. In 1794, R. W. Fox was appointed Consul (Diplomatic Representative) by the United States of America for the port of Falmouth.
In 1811, Fox was one of four delegates sent to negotiate with the Post Office headquarters in Lombard Street, London, for the return of the Packet Service station to Falmouth from Plymouth.{{cite book|last=Norway|first=Arthur H|title=The Post-Office Packet service: between the years 1793 and 1815, compiled from records, chiefly official|year=1895|url=https://archive.org/details/historypostoffi00norwgoog|publisher=Macmillan|location=London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historypostoffi00norwgoog/page/n220 197]–221}}
Notes and references
{{Portal|Cornwall}}
Further reading
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article by Philip Payton Fox, Robert Were (1754–1818)
- ODNB article by Denise Crook, Fox, Robert Were (1789–1877) accessed 3 Aug 2006
- ODNB article by G. C. Boase, Fox, Charles (1797–1878), revised by Justin Brooke, accessed 6 Aug 2006]
- {{cite book
| last = Fox
| first = Robert Barclay
| authorlink = Barclay Fox
| title = Barclay Fox's journal
| editor = Raymond Brett
| publisher = Bell and Hyman
| year = 1979
| location = London
| isbn = 0-7135-1865-0}} and U.S. edition, {{cite book
| last = Fox
| first = Robert Barclay
| authorlink = Barclay Fox
| title = Barclay Fox's journal
| editor = Raymond Brett
| publisher = Rowman & Littlefield
| year = 1979
| location = Totowa, N.J.
| isbn = 0-8476-6187-3
| url-access = registration
| url = https://archive.org/details/barclayfoxsjourn0000foxb
}} Barclay Fox was R. W. Fox the Elder's grandson. Pages cited above are from the Introductory essay by R. L. Brett
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Category:English businesspeople
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