William Darwin Fox
Categories: Darwin -- Wedgwood family | 1805 births | 1880 deaths
The Reverend William Darwin Fox (1805-1880) was an English clergyman, naturalist and a 2nd cousin of Charles Robert Darwin.
Biography
Fox was the son of Samuel Fox (1765-1851) and Ann Darwin (1777-1859). Ann was the daughter of William Alvey Darwin (1726-1783) and Jane Brown (1746-1835), and niece of Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802).
Like Charles Darwin, Fox prepared for the clergy at Cambridge University. He was also a naturalist and entomologist, particularly collecting beetles. At Cambridge, Fox and Darwin became friends, and Fox tutored his younger cousin on natural history. Darwin noted in his autobiography:
I was introduced to entomology by my second cousin W. Darwin Fox, a clever and most pleasant man, who was then at Christ's College, and with whom I became extremely intimate.
It was also Fox who introduced Darwin to John Stevens Henslow who held a weekly open house which undergraduates and and some older members of the University, who were attached to science attended in the evenings.
Fox graduated from Cambridge in the winter of 1829 and shortly thereafter became the Vicar of Osmaston. He had been born and initially raised at Thurlston Grange and later at Osmaston Hall near Derby. Osmaston Hall was located about 2 miles (3.2km) south of Derby, and Charles Darwin spent three weeks there with Fox in the summer of 1828. The Hall and its associated 4,000 acre (1,600 hectare) estate was sold to the Wilmot-Horten family following the death of Fox's father and subsequently in 1888 to the Midland Railway. In 1938 the Hall was demolished and the area is now industrial, more noted for the manufacture of Rolls Royce turbo-fan engines.
Throughout his life, Fox remained in regular contact with Charles Darwin, and many of the letters exchanged contained comments relating to Darwin's work as well as family matters.
A notice in the London Gazette for Friday April 6, 1838 states:
"The Queen has been pleased to present the Rev. William Darwin Fox, M.A. to the rectory of Delamere in the diocese and county of Chester, ..."
...where he remained the incumbent until 1873.
From early in 1861 Fox spent more of his time at Brading near Sandown on the Isle of Wight, where he was also the relieving curate of St. Mary's church at Brixton (now Brighstone), and in his own non scientific way contributed to the understanding of how the Isle of Wight became separated from the mainland. He gave a very informative opinion on this matter in a reply to a correspondent to the Geologist dated November 1862, Brixton, which has been reproduced by Southampton University.
This leads to the least well noted part of William Darwin Fox's interests, that of an amateur palaeontologist whose delving into the remains of dinosaurs around the Isle of Wight earned him a reputation with the scientific community and he is probably the only Englishman to have three species of dinosaur named after him. This excellent article on the Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight gives Fox a great deal of credit for his work in revealing the prehistoric remains of these creatures on the island. It would seem that his hobby didn't endear him to his parishoners, as he has been noted for placing palaeontology ahead of his priestly duties!
When Fox retired as Rector of Delamere in 1873, he returned to live at "Broadlands", Brading, until his death and is buried on the Isle of Wight.
Fox married twice and had seventeen children. His first wife was Harriet Fletcher, (1799–1842), daughter of Sir Richard Fletcher whom he married in 1834 and they issued - stillborn girl, 1834, Eliza Ann (Sanders),1836 - 1874; Harriet Emma (Overton), 1837 - ; Agnes Jane, 1839 - ; Julia Mary Anne (Woods), 1840 - ; Samuel William Darwin, 1841 - .
His second wife was Ellen Sophia (1820–1887), daughter of Basil George Woodd of Hillfield, Hampstead and they were married in 1846. They issued - Charles Woodd, 1847 - ; Frances Maria (Pearce) 1848 - 1921, Robert Gerard, 1849 - ; Louisa Mary, 1850 - 1853; Ellen Elizabeth(1) (Baron Dickinson Webster - 1st cousins once removed), 1852 - ; Theodora, 1853 - 1878; Gertrude Mary (Bosanquet), 1854 - ; Frederick William, 1855 - ; Edith Darwin, 1857 - ; Erasmus Pullien, 1858 - ; Reginald Henry, 1860 - ; Gilbert Basil, 1864 - .