See also
| Husband: | Charles Douglas Fox (1840-1921) | |
| Wife: | Mary Wright (1840-1920) | |
| Children: | Judith Isabel Fox (1872-1957) | |
| Marriage | 26 May 1863 | Osmaston Church, Derbyshire |
| Name: | Charles Douglas Fox | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Father: | Charles Fox (1810-1874) | |
| Mother: | Mary Brookhouse ( - ) | |
| Birth | 14 May 1840 | Smethwick, Staffordshire |
| Occupation | Civil engineer (see notes) | |
| Death fact | 1921 (age 80-81) | GRO Reference: 1921 D Quarter in KENSINGTON Volume 01A Page 139 (aged 81) |
| Death | 13 Nov 1921 (age 81) | 27 Campden House Road, Kensington, Middlesex |
| Name: | Mary Wright | |
| Sex: | Female | |
| Father: | Francis Wright (1806-1873) | |
| Mother: | Selina FitzHerbert (1806-1888) | |
| Birth | 27 Mar 1840 | Lenton, Nottinghamshire |
| Death fact | 1920 (age 79-80) | GRO Reference: 1920 M Quarter in SEVENOAKS Volume 02A Page 1002 (aged 79) |
| Death | 24 Mar 1920 (age 79) | Kippington Grange, Sevenoaks, Kent |
| Name: | Judith Isabel Fox | |
| Sex: | Female | |
| Spouse: | James Sedgwick Wimbush (1866-1941) | |
| Birth | 18 Apr 1872 | Blackheath, Kent |
| Birth fact | 1872 (age 0) | GRO Reference: 1872 J Quarter in GREENWICH Volume 01D Page 849 |
| Census | 1911 (age 38-39) | Terrington Rectory, Yorkshire (married 12 years, 5 children, 5 living, husband absent) |
| Occupation | 1939 (age 66-67) | Private means, 31 Northmoor Road, Oxford, Oxfordshire |
| Death fact | 1957 (age 84-85) | GRO Reference: 1957 M Quarter in DEVON CENTRAL Volume 07A Page 340 (aged 84) |
| Death | 6 Mar 1957 (age 84) | Coombe, 5 Seafield Avenue, Exmouth, Devon |
Sir (Charles) Douglas Fox (14 May 1840 – 13 November 1921) was an English civil engineer.
He was born in Smethwick, Staffordshire, the oldest son of Sir Charles Fox and had two brothers and a sister. Sir Charles was a civil engineer and had designed, amongst other things, The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park. Douglas was educated at Cholmondeley School, also known as Highgate School, from 1851 to 1854 and King's College School from 1854 to 1855. He studied at King's College London from 1855 to 1857 and was to have studied further at Trinity College, Cambridge but the financial collapse of his father's contracting company in 1857 ended his education. Douglas was instead articled to his father who had set up an engineering consultancy, Sir Charles Fox and Sons.
He married Mary Wright in 1863 with whom he had one son and four daughters.
In 1863 Douglas was made a partner and by 1865 the firm was involved in major projects in Britain, the USA, Canada, southern Africa, India, Australia, and South America. From 1863 to 1866 Douglas and his father worked on the design of the railway viaducts and bridges at Battersea which would separate the lines coming from Waterloo from those from Victoria. This process also included the widening of Grosvenor Bridge from two to seven tracks.
During this period Douglas held several patents including one for "improvements in machinery for nicking and dressing the heads of screw-blanks" which was approved on 28 April 1868, one for "improvements in the manufacture of method of repairing railway rails and other iron in a permanent way and in the machinery to be employed therein" on 30 July 1868 and one for "improvements in screw cutting and threading machines and in the construction of screw nails and spikes" on 30 April 1866. Douglas was also a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers by 1873.
The family firm remained solely a father and son enterprise until Sir Charles' death in 1874 upon which Douglas became senior partner of what was now Douglas Fox & Partners. At this stage Douglas' brother Francis also became a partner of the firm.
Douglas was involved with the construction of the Snowdon Mountain Railway and the extension of the Great Central Railway from Rugby to London including the terminal at Marylebone Station. He worked on several of London's early tube lines including the Great Northern and City tube, the Hampstead tube and the unsuccessful North West London Railway project. Douglas was, with James Greathead, joint engineer of the Liverpool Overhead Railway which was the first electric elevated city railway in the world.
Further afield Douglas was involved with the design of much of the Cape Colony railways, the whole Rhodesia railway system, which included the 500 ft span Victoria Falls Bridge, the Benguela Railway in Angola, and several railways in South America. The firm were consulting engineers to the Central Argentine Railway; the South Indian Railway; the Southern São Paulo Railway and the Dorada Railway.
Sir Ralph Freeman, one of the firm's chief engineers, most notably worked on the Victoria Falls Bridge (1905) and the Sydney Harbour Bridge (1932). Freeman rose to become senior partner, and in 1938 the firm changed its name to Freeman Fox & Partners, and later Acer Freeman Fox. Following several mergers, the firm is now part of Hyder Consulting.
On 8 March 1886 Douglas Fox was knighted at Windsor Castle by Queen Victoria for his work with James Brunlees on the Mersey Railway Tunnel and a railway linking Birkenhead with Liverpool.
In 1887 he was made an honorary fellow of King's College London and from November 1899 to November 1900 served as president of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
He died on 13 November 1921 in Kensington, at the home of one of his daughters; Mary had died the year before.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Douglas_Fox
FOX Sir Charles Douglas of 27 Campden House Road Kensington Middlesex died 13 November 1921. Probate London 20 December to Francis Douglas Fox civil engineer and Francis John Kingdon Hull solicitor. Effects £45766 8s. 2d.
FOX Dame Mary of Kippington Grange Sevenoaks Kent (wife of Sir Douglas Fox knight) died 24 March 1920. Probate London 21 May to the said Sir Douglas Fox knight Francis Douglas Fox esquire and Ralph Thicknesse solicitor. Effects £17545.