Howard Fox (10 December 1836 – 15 November 1922) was a shipping agent and played a large part in the economic and cultural development of the town of Falmouth, Cornwall. He was a member of the influential Fox family of Falmouth.

Business interests

The Fox family had built up a diversified set of interests beyond the original

shipbroking Shipbroking is a financial service, which forms part of the global shipping industry. Shipbrokers are specialist intermediaries/negotiators (i.e. brokers) between shipowners and charterers who use ships to transport cargo, or between buyers a ...

office. Howard Fox led the central board of the company.

Consular roles

He was

Consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

for the United States of America in Falmouth from 1874 until 1905, in succession to his father. In April 1870, he was appointed Vice-Consul for the Republic of the Ecuador. He was appointed Consul for

Sweden and Norway Sweden and Norway or Sweden–Norway (; ), officially the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, and known as the United Kingdoms, was a personal union of the separate kingdoms of Sweden and Norway under a common monarch and common foreign pol ...

in 1896. He became Consul for

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

in 1909.

Harbour and Dock development

He was also chairman of

Falmouth Docks Falmouth Docks are a deep-water docks of the town of Falmouth in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The docks are the southern shore of the Fal Estuary which is the third largest natural harbour in the world and the deepest in Europe. They ext ...

Company for 45 years, succeeding his father.

Scientific interests

He had wide general interests in science and supported the

Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society The Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society (commonly known as The Poly) is an educational, cultural and scientific Charitable organization#United Kingdom, charity, as well as a local arts and cinema venue, based in Falmouth, Cornwall, England, Unite ...

and the

British Association The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chief ...

. At the British Association's Annual Meeting held in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

in September 1893, he read a paper to the Geology Section "The

radiolarian The Radiolaria, also called Radiozoa, are unicellular eukaryotes of diameter 0.1–0.2 mm that produce intricate mineral skeletons, typically with a central capsule dividing the cell into the inner and outer portions of endoplasm and ecto ...

chert Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a prec ...

s of Cornwall". In 1884, he attended the British Association meeting in

Montreal, Quebec Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Canada. He was a member of the

Geological Society of London The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe, with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

. He served as president of the

Royal Geological Society of Cornwall The Royal Geological Society of Cornwall is a geological society originally based in Penzance, Cornwall in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1814 to promote the study of the geology of Cornwall, and is the second oldest geological society in ...

in 1893–1894, and in 1897 was awarded the RGSC's prestigious ''Bolitho Gold Medal''. He was also interested in

ornithology Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and horticulture. He was given the exotic garden developed by his Uncle Robert, at Rosehill, Falmouth, in 1872.

Philanthropy and Peace activities

Along with many other members of the Fox family, he was a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

, and engaged with them in various philanthropic projects. He was a founder of Falmouth County School for Girls. In 1878, he seconded a motion at a public meeting of Falmouth Chamber of Commerce, urging the Government "to maintain in the present crisis he Russo-Turkish Warthe principles of strict neutrality".

Birth, marriage and family

He was born on 10 December 1836 at Wodehouse Place, Falmouth, the third son of the twelve children of Alfred Fox (1794–1874) and his wife, Sarah Lloyd (1804–1890). He married Olivia Blanche Orme (1844–1930) in 1864. They had four children, two boys and two girls. His son,

Charles Masson Fox Charles Masson Fox (9 November 1866 – 11 October 1935) was a Cornish businessman who achieved international prominence in the world of chess problems and a place in the homosexual history of Edwardian England. Masson Fox was born into a Quaker ...

, was a timber merchant and a director of the family shipping broking company, G. C. Fox. His son, Howard Orme Fox (17 August 1865 – 7 June 1921) was an Imperial Civil Servant. His daughters, Olivia Lloyd Fox (born 1868) and Stella (Born 1876), gave Rosehill Garden to Falmouth Town Council. He died 15 November 1922 at Rosehill, Falmouth.

Publications

*''Observations in further illustration of the history and statistics of the Pilchard Fishery'' (1879). *"The flying

squid A squid (: squid) is a mollusc with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight cephalopod limb, arms, and two tentacles in the orders Myopsida, Oegopsida, and Bathyteuthida (though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also ...

or calamar", Falmouth : ''Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society'', 1879 *"Further Killigrew Mss. Relating to the Killigrew Pyramid or Monument at Falmouth and Other Matters" ''Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall''. No.42. *"Further Notes on the

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

Rocks and Fossils in the Parish of

St Minver St Minver () is the name of an ecclesiastical parish, a civil parish and a village in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The civil parish of St Minver is in Bodmin Registration District and is nominally divided into St Minver Highlands (t ...

." ''Transactions of the

''. Vol.13, Part 1, 1905. *"Notes on some coast-sections at the Lizard : On a radiolarian chert from

Mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid sup ...

Island" by Howard Fox and J. J. H. Teall. ''The Quarterly Journal of the

Geological Society The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe, with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

'', Vol.49 (1893) pp. 199 and 211. *"On a well-marked horizon of radiolarian rocks in the lower

Culm Measures The Culm Measures are a thick sequence of geological stratum, strata originating during the Carboniferous Period that occur in south-west England, principally in Devon and Cornwall, now known as the Culm Supergroup. Its estimated thickness varies b ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, Cornwall and West

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

" by George Jennings Hinde and Howard Fox. ''The Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society'', 1895; v. 51; issue.1–4; p. 609-NP;"On Well-marked horizon . . " Full text a
The Lyell Collection, online (accessed 24 December 2007).
/ref> *"On Some Nodular Concretions, Resembling Fossil Wood and Fossil Fish : Treworden Wood, Launceston." ''Transactions of the Royal Cornwall Geological Society'', 1894. *"On the

gneiss Gneiss (pronounced ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. This rock is formed under p ...

ic rocks off the

Lizard Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...

; with notes on the specimens" by Howard Fox and J. J. H. Teall, ''The Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London''. Vol.44. 1888 p519-544 *"Supplementary Notes on the Cornish Radiolarian Cherts and Devonian Fossils" ''Transactions of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall'', Vol.12, Part 4, 1899. *''On a soda feldspar rock at Dinas Head, North Coast of Cornwall'', Cambridge University Press, 1895.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Howard 1836 births 1922 deaths English businesspeople English Quakers People from Falmouth, Cornwall

Howard Howard is a masculine given name derived from the English surname Howard. ''The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names'' notes that "the use of this surname as a christian name is quite recent and there seems to be no particular reason for ...

Presidents of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall