Robert Were Fox (5 July 1754 – 1818) was a Quaker businessman who lived in
Falmouth.
Life and work
Fox was born in
Fowey
Fowey ( ; kw, Fowydh, meaning 'Beech Trees') is a port town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town has been in existence since well before the Norman invasion, with the local ch ...
,
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 FRS of
Penjerrick Garden
Penjerrick Garden -- often referred to as "Cornwall's true jungle garden"—lies between Budock Water and Mawnan Smith, near Falmouth, United Kingdom. Established in the early 19th century by Robert Were Fox F.R.S. and his children, Anna Maria ...
and Alfred Fox of
Glendurgan. Their daughter, Mariana Fox (1807–1863), married Francis Tuckett of
Frenchay and became the mother of the
mountaineer Francis Fox Tuckett. Their daughter, Charlotte born in 1799, married Samuel Fox of Tottenham.
The family were
Quakers, descended from George Fox of
Fowey
Fowey ( ; kw, Fowydh, meaning 'Beech Trees') is a port town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town has been in existence since well before the Norman invasion, with the local ch ...
and his wife, Anna Debell. Robert Were Fox was the son of their son, George Croker Fox, and his wife, Mary Were. It was George Croker Fox who founded a Falmouth ship-brokering business, which survived into the 21st century.
During the time Robert Were Fox ran the family's ship-brokering business, family 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 for the return of the
Packet Service
The Post Office Packet Service dates to Tudor times and ran until 1823, when the Admiralty assumed control of the service. Originally, the Post Office used packet ships to carry mail packets to and from British embassies, colonies and outposts. Th ...
station to Falmouth from
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
.
Notes and references
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
George Clement Boase (20 October 1829, in Penzance – 1 October 1897, in Lewisham) was an English bibliographer and antiquary.
Biography
Boase's father was a banker, and Boase himself took up banking in Cornwall and London as a young man from 18 ...
, ''Fox, Charles (1797–1878)'', revised by Justin Brooke, accessed 6 Aug 2006]
* and U.S. edition, Barclay Fox was R. W. Fox the Elder's grandson. Pages cited above are from the Introductory essay by R. L. Brett
English businesspeople
People from Fowey
English Quakers
1754 births
1818 deaths
Robert Were
{{Cornwall-stub