Albert Ebenezer Fox (1857 – 20 May 1937) and Ebenezer Albert Fox (1857 – 2 October 1926) were infamous English

poachers Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set against the hunti ...

who lived in

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevenage w ...

in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were identical

twins Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two e ...

and were also known as the Twin Foxes.

Biography

They were born in 1857 in Symonds Green and named after the Ebenezer Chapel (

Baptist Church Baptists are a denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers ( believer's baptism) and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches generally subscribe to the doctrines of ...

) on Albert Street, of which their father, Henry Fox, was a devout supporter. Their mother, Charlotte Fox, was a straw-plait worker and their father

farmed Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

of land. Despite their respectable background, the twins turned to a life of

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

. They made sure never to go poaching together, and often escaped their frequent encounters with the

constabulary Constabulary may have several definitions: *A civil, non-paramilitary (police) force consisting of police officers called constables. This is the usual definition in the United Kingdom, in which all county police forces once bore the title (and s ...

by providing alibis for each other. Despite this, they did spend time in

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

where they attracted the attention of Sir

Edward Henry Sir Edward Richard Henry, 1st Baronet, (26 July 1850 – 19 February 1931) was the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (head of the Metropolitan Police of London) from 1903 to 1918. His time in the post saw the first discussions on the ...

who used twins, including the Foxes, to prove that an individual could be identified by his

fingerprint A fingerprint is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. The recovery of partial fingerprints from a crime scene is an important method of forensic science. Moisture and grease on a finger result in fingerprints on surfa ...

s. Their crimes made national and international news. Both twins ended their days in Chalkdell House (the Poor Law Union workhouse) in

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district of Hertfordshire, England. The town dates from at least the 7th century. It lies in the valley of the River Hiz at the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hills ...

. Ebenezer died on 2 October 1926, aged 68, and Albert died on 20 May 1937, aged 79. Both are buried in the churchyard of

St Nicholas' Church, Stevenage St Nicholas' Church is an Anglican parish church in Stevenage, a town in Hertfordshire, England. It occupies a hilltop site above Old Stevenage. It is a Grade I listed building and is composed of a tower, entrance porch, nave, north and south ai ...

Legacy

In 1952, the Twin Foxes public house, named after the brothers, opened in the Bedwell area of Stevenage, but it closed in 2012. More recently in 1998, an estate of 59 properties in

Woolmer Green Woolmer Green is a small village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. The 2011 census figure for the population (from the Office for National Statistics) is 661 people. History Situated between the villages of Welwyn and Knebworth, Wool ...

, the other side of

Knebworth Knebworth is a village and civil parish in the north of Hertfordshire, England, immediately south of Stevenage. The civil parish covers an area between the villages of Datchworth, Woolmer Green, Codicote, Kimpton, Whitwell, St Paul's Wald ...

from

was named Twin Foxes after Albert and Ebenezer Fox. Busts of both men rest on top of pillars at the entrance to the estate with years of birth and death.

References

*Ashby, Margaret (1995) ''Stevenage Past''. Phillimore & Co Ltd. 20th-century English criminals 1857 births 1926 deaths 1936 deaths People from Stevenage Poachers English identical twins 19th-century English criminals Burials in Hertfordshire {{crime-bio-stub