Fox, SIB CHABLES (1810-74). 

 British engineer. The son of 

 Francis Fox, M.D., he was born at 

 Derby, March 11, 1810. Having 

 shown a distinct gift for mechanics, 

 he was articled to an engineer, and 

 was soon associated with Robert 

 Stephenson and other pioneers of 

 the steam engine. He did en- 

 gineering work on various rlys., 

 especially the London and Bir- 

 mingham, and the firm of whicli 

 he became a partner began to make 

 rly. stock, introducing therein 

 various improvements suggested 

 by him. Fox built the Crystal 

 Palace in Hyde Park and after- 

 wards at Sydenham, and was very 

 successful with his bridges. An 

 enormous length of rly. line, almost 

 in every part of the world, was 

 undertaken by his firm, as well as 

 tunnels, stations, among them 

 Waterloo, Paddington, etc. In 

 1851 he was knighted. He died 

 June 14, 1874, leaving his two 

 elder sons to carry on the business 

 of Sir Charles Fox & Sons. 



Fox, SIB CHABLES DOUGLAS 

 (1840-1921). British engineer. Born 

 Mayl4,1840, educated at Cholmon- 

 deley School 

 and King's 

 College, Lon- 

 don, he joined 

 his father, Sir 

 Charles Fox, 

 in business in 

 1861. Associ- 

 ated with him 

 in railway and 

 otherengineer- 

 ing work, he 

 soon came to 

 the front. He was president of 

 the Institute of Civil Engineers, 

 and in 1886 was knighted. His 

 brother, Sir Francis Fox (b. 1844), 

 followed a like career. He, too, 

 joined the firm of Sir Charles Fox & 

 Sons in 1861, and was knighted in 

 1912. Sir Francis was called in to 

 advise on the restoration of Win- 

 chester Cathedral, and was one of 

 the experts consulted about the 

 construction of the Simplon Tunnel. 

 His published books include The 

 Mersey Tunnel and The Simplon 

 Tunnel. He died Nov. 13, 1921. 



Fox, CHABLES JAMES (1749- 

 1806). British statesman. Born in 

 London, Jan. 4, 1749, he was a 



Smnger son of Henry Fox, Lord 

 olland ; his mother was a daugh- 

 ter of the duke of Richmond, j He 

 was educated at a school at Wands- 

 worth, at Eton, and at Hertford 

 College, Oxford. He read widely, 

 and his industry, coupled with his 

 great natural abilities, made him 

 a scholar. In addition to a know- 

 ledge of the classics, he was a good 

 French scholar and 'read Italian 

 well. He was only a boy when, 



Sir C. Douglas Fox, 

 British engineer 



Russell 



After Reynolds 



encouraged by his father, he began 

 his career as a gambler and shared 

 the other pleasures of his dissolute 

 elders. In 1769 he entered Parlia- 

 ment as M.P. for Midhurst, his 

 father's pocket borough, and in 

 1770 he was made a junior lord of 

 the admiralty under Lord North. 

 In 1772 he resigned owing to his 

 opposition to the court, but in 

 1773-74 he was again in office as a 

 junior lord of the treasury. 



Fox's career as a Whig leader 

 may be dated from 1775. By then 

 he had won the friendship of Burke, 

 and had shown, in the case of the 

 American colonies, for instance, 

 that attachment to the cause of 

 popular liberty which is the out- 

 standing feature of his political 

 career. He acted with the Whigs, 

 then led by Lord Rockingham, 

 but in many matters he was more 

 advanced than they. His creed 

 included parliamentary reform and 

 purity in financial affairs, while, 

 like many others, he saw a danger 

 to the state in the undue influence 

 of the crown. Soon came his advo- 

 cacy of the repeal of Roman 

 Catholic disabilities and of the 

 causes of Ireland and the slave. ) 

 In 1782 Fox entered the cabinet 

 of Lord Rockingham as secretary 

 of state, but in a few months the 

 premier died, and, refusing to serve 

 under Lord Shelburne, he joined 

 Burke and Sheridan in a Whig 

 secession which in 1783 resulted in 

 the extraordinary coalition be- 

 tween Fox and Lord North. In 

 this the former was again a secre- 

 tary of state, but this ministry had 

 but a brief life. It was dismissed 

 by the king as soon as the House of 

 Lords had rejected Fox's India Bill. 

 Fox, who in 1784 had fought at 

 Westminster for which constitu- 

 ency he had been first returned in 

 1780 one of the most fiercely con- 



tested battles in electoral history, 

 now appeared as a leading oppo- 

 nent of Pitt's ministry, although on 

 some matters the impeachment 

 of Hastings, for instance he was 

 in agreement with the premier. In 

 1789 came his famous declaration 

 of welcome to the French Revolu- 

 tion, an encomium on the fall of the 

 Bastille, and in 1791 his long 

 friendship with Burke came to an 

 end on this issue. By 1792 the 

 majority of the Whigs had ceased 

 to hail the Revolution with rap- 

 ture, regarding it rather as a 

 tyranny ; but Fox, almost alone, 

 continued to support it. He de- 

 clared against the war with France, 

 but by now he had few followers, 

 and after 1797 he ceased for a time 

 to attend parliament. In 1798, for 

 declaring publicly for the sove- 

 reignty of the people, his name was 

 removed from the list of privy 

 councillors. 



About 1802 Fox returned to 

 public life. He remained in oppo- 

 sition until -the death of Pitt in 

 1806, when he again became a 

 secretary of state, this time in the 

 ministry of all the talents. He then 

 endeavoured to negotiate a peace 

 with France, but he soon realized 

 that he had misread Napoleon's 

 character. His health was already 

 failing, and on Sept. 13, 1806, he 

 died at Chiswick. He is buried in 

 Westminster Abbey. 



The vices and the virtues of Fox 

 were both on the large scale. A 

 leading member of the dissolute 

 circle that surrounded the Prince 

 Regent, he lost an ample fortune at 

 cards, and was more than once 

 bankrupt, dependent upon the 

 charity of his friends. He showed, 

 as did others, a lack of consistency 

 between words and deeds, while 

 he was capable of carrying his 

 private animosities into public life. 

 For constructive statesmanship he 

 showed no ability whatever. On 

 the other hand, he was a great 

 orator and a greater debater. To 

 the last his mind maintained its 

 freshness by contact with the 

 masterpieces of literature. He 

 possessed a really generous nature, 

 while his sympathy with the op- 

 pressed was the outcome of genuine 

 feeling. He was long the idol of the 

 Whigs, among whom his is un- 

 doubtedly the greatest name. In 

 1785 he married his mistress, Mrs. 

 Armistead, and his later life was 

 passed at St. Anne's Hill, near 

 Chertsey. He began a life of James 

 II, was something of a sportsman, 

 and had fought a duel. See Pitt, 



A. W. Holland 



Bibliography. Memoirs and Cor- 

 respondence of C. J. Fox, 1853-57 ; 

 Life and Times of C. J. Fox, Lord J. 

 Russell, 1859-66 ; Early History of 



