William Fox (14 February 1736 – 1 April 1826) was an English businessman, Baptist minister and founder of the Sunday School Society.

Life

Fox was born in 1736 in Clapton, Gloucestershire, the youngest of eight children of J. Fox, a tenant farmer on the Clapton Manor estate. He was left fatherless in early childhood, and the eldest son took over the farm. He is said to have had extraordinary resolution, and that at the age of ten formed business plans which were afterwards completely realised. He ultimately became lord of the manor of Clapton. Fox was apprenticed to a draper and mercer in Oxford in 1752; it is related that before the expiration of his indentures his master gave up to him his house and shop and stock of goods, valued at about £4,000. Fox married in 1761 the eldest daughter of Jonathan Tabor, a Colchester merchant. Three years later he moved to London, and entered upon a wholesale business in

Leadenhall Street __NOTOC__ Leadenhall Street () is a street in the City of London. It is about and links Cornhill in the west to Aldgate in the east. It was formerly the start of the A11 road from London to Norwich, but that route now starts further east at ...

, moving later to

Cheapside Cheapside is a street in the City of London, the historic and modern financial centre of London, which forms part of the A40 London to Fishguard road. It links St. Martin's Le Grand with Poultry. Near its eastern end at Bank junction, where ...

. Becoming aware of the degradation of the poorer classes of the population, he endeavoured unsuccessfully, by lobbying members of both houses of parliament, to move the government in their behalf. He was a deacon of the Particular Baptists' Prescot Street Chapel, and spoke at the monthly meetings of the Baptist Society in London. About 1784, when he became the proprietor of Clapton, he began his humanitarian work unaided, founding a free day school. Writing to Robert Raikes in 1785, he stated that long before the establishment of Sunday schools he had designed a system of universal education, but had met with little support from the clergy and laity, who were alarmed by the magnitude of the undertaking. A meeting was held at Fox's instance in the

Poultry, London Poultry (formerly also Poultrey) is a short street in the City of London, which is the historic nucleus and modern financial centre of London. It is an eastern continuation of Cheapside, between Old Jewry and Mansion House Street, towards Bank ...

, on 16 August 1785, when it was resolved to issue a circular recommending the formation of a society for the establishment and support of

Sunday school A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West. S ...

s throughout the kingdom of Great Britain. Fox was supported by Raikes,

Jonas Hanway Jonas Hanway (12 August 1712 – 5 September 1786), was a British philanthropist and traveller. He was the first male Londoner to carry an umbrella and was a noted opponent of tea drinking. Life Hanway was born in Portsmouth, on the south coa ...

, and other friends of education, and the result was the foundation of the Sunday School Society, with a body of officers and governors, and a committee of twenty-four persons, chosen equally from the church of England and the various bodies of protestant dissenters. The Earl of Salisbury was elected president. Eight months later, thirty schools had been established, containing 1,110 children, and by the following January (1787) these had been increased to 147 schools with 7,242 children. In later years the Society declined, and was eventually absorbed into the

Sunday School Union The Sunday School Union was a British ecumenical organisation devoted to promoting Sunday schools in Britain and abroad. History The Sunday School Union had been set up on 13 July 1803 "to encourage teachers to communicate with each other, impro ...

. In 1797 the Baptist Home Missionary Society was formed, with Fox as treasurer. Fox bought in 1807 the manor of Lechlade, Gloucestershire, living there until 1823, when he moved to

Cirencester Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of ...

. Fox died in Cirencester on 1 April 1826, and was buried at Lechlade beside his wife and daughter.

References

Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, William 1736 births 1826 deaths People from Gloucestershire 18th-century English businesspeople 18th-century English Baptist ministers *