John Charles Cox (1843–23 February 1919) was an English cleric, activist and local historian.

Life

He was born in

Parwich Parwich is a village and parish in the Derbyshire Dales, 7 miles north of Ashbourne. In the 2011 census the population of the civil parish was 472. Village facilities include the Anglican church of St Peter's, a primary school, the Sycamore Inn ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, the son of Edward Cox, vicar of

Luccombe, Somerset Luccombe or Luckham is a village and civil parish in the Exmoor National Park in the English county of Somerset. It at the foot of the moor's highest hill, the Dunkery Beacon, and is about one mile south of the A39 road between Porlock and Mi ...

, and was educated at

Repton School Repton School is a 13–18 co-educational, independent, day and boarding school in the English public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, England. Sir John Port of Etwall, on his death in 1557, left funds to create a grammar school whi ...

. He studied at

The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...

, for two years from 1862, but left without graduating, becoming a partner in the Wingerworth Coal Company,

. He remained with the company to 1885, but was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1881. As rector of

Barton-le-Street Barton-le-Street is a village and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 186 reducing to 170 at the 2011 Census. It is located about five miles west of Mal ...

from 1886, and of Holdenby from 1893, Cox made a reputation as "perhaps one of the most influential English local historians of the nineteenth century", an area he had written on from the 1870s. From 1890 until approximately 1895, Cox was editor of the monthly antiquarian magazine, ''The Antiquary''. From 1900 he was in Sydenham, and concentrated on writing. Cox was a political activist who "always focused on the need to fight for the socio-economic and political rights of the labouring poor". He died on 23 February 1919.

List of selected publications

*''The Rise of the Farm Labourer: A Series of Articles ... Illustrative of Certain Political Aspects of the Agricultural Labour Movement'' (1874) with Henry Fisher Cox *''Notes on the Churches of Derbyshire'', 4 vols., 1877–9 *''How to Write the History of a Parish'' (1879; 5th ed., 1909) *''The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England'' ( Joseph Strutt, 1801), editor, 1903 *''The Royal Forests of England'' (1905) *''English Church Furniture'' (1908), with Alfred Harvey *''The Parish Registers of England'' (1910) *''The Sanctuaries and Sanctuary Seekers of Medieval England'' (1911) *''The English Parish Church'' (1914) *''Lincolnshire'' (1916)J. Charles Cox (1916)
''Lincolnshire''
Methuen & Co. Ltd. Retrieved 10 January 2019 *''The Parish Churches of England''; edited with additional chapters by Charles Bradley Ford. London: B. T. Batsford, 1935 (followed by later editions)

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cox, John Charles 1843 births 1919 deaths 20th-century English Anglican priests English activists English local historians 19th-century English businesspeople 19th-century English Anglican priests