Robert Were Fox the Younger

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Robert Were Fox F.R.S. (April 26, 1789 - July 25, 1877), English geologist and natural philosopher[1], was born at Falmouth, the son of Robert Were Fox (1754 - 1818)[2] and his wife, Elizabeth Tregelles.

He was a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and was descended from members who had long settled in Cornwall, although he was not related to George Fox who had introduced the community into the county.

Contents

[edit] Scientific work

He was distinguished for his researches on the internal temperature of the earth, being the first to prove that the heat increased definitely with the depth; his observations being conducted in Cornish mines from 1815 for a period of forty years [3].

In 1829 he commenced a series of experiments on the artificial production of miniature metalliferous veins by means of the long-continued influence of electric currents, and his main results were published in Observations on Mineral Veins (Reports of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society., 1836).

He was one of the founders in 1833 of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society.

He constructed in 1834 an improved form of reflector dipping needle compass. [4]

In 1848 he was elected fellow of the Royal Society.

[edit] Business affairs

He was involved in many aspects of the Fox family's businesses, with his many brothers. He was Honorary Consul of the U.S.A in Falmouth from 1819 to 1854.

[edit] Marriage and family

In 1814, he married Maria Barclay (1785 – 1858), daughter of Robert and Rachel Barclay of Bury Hill, near Dorking, Surrey. Her sister, Lucy, married his elder brother, George Croker Fox[5].

They had three children, Anna Maria (1815 – 1897), Barclay (1817 – 1855) and Caroline (1819 – 1871)[6].

His daughter Caroline was a noted diarist.[7] The Royal Society holds a collection of his letters to his family Listing of archive and Archive of the Month

His garden at Penjerrick near Falmouth became noted for the number of exotic plants which he and his son had naturalized.

[edit] Death

He died July 25, 1877 and was buried at the Quaker Burial Ground at Budock.


[edit] Notes and References

  1. ^ The main source for this article is ODNB entry: Denise Crook, ‘Fox, Robert Were (1789–1877)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 13 June 2006. A Catalogue of the Works of Robert Were Fox, F.R.S., with a Sketch of his Life, by John Henry Collins, Lake & Lake, Truro, 1878 (66 pages and 2 plates) referred to by Encyclopedia Britannica (1911) has not been seen by current editor. See also p. 133 of the Dictionary of National Biography (vol. 2) at Google Book Search.
  2. ^ His father bore the same name and lived 1754–1818. He also merited an entry in ODNB: Philip Payton, ‘Fox, Robert Were (1754–1818)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 13 June 2006.
  3. ^ Mining History Site places Fox in his context.
  4. ^ Dipping Needle In An New Universal Dictionary of the marine by William Falconer, improved and modernised by William Burney; T. Cadell & William Davey and John Murray, 1830: Pages 122, 123 and Plate IX, Figure 11, the Dip of a Needle is defined as

    "a certain property which all needles possess when rubbed with a lodestone of inclining the north end below the level of the horizon: this property found to increase in going northward."

  5. ^ Barclay family tree Note: at least three members of the family had the name "George Croker Fox".
  6. ^ Family Tree
  7. ^ His son, Barclay Fox's journals have also been published.

[edit] Publications of R.W. Fox

  • "On the Electro-Magnetic Properties of Metalliferous Veins in the Mines of Cornwall" in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Vol. 120, 1830 (1830), pp. 399-414
  • "On Certain Irregularities in the Magnetic Needle, Produced by Partial Warmth, and the Relations Which Appear to Subsist between Terrestrial Magnetism and the Geological Structure and Thermo-Electrical Currents of the Earth. " [Abstract] in Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Vol. 3, 1830 - 1837 (1830 - 1837), pp. 123-125
  • "On the Variable Intensity of Terrestrial Magnetism, and the Influence of the Aurora Borealis upon It" in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Vol. 121, 1831 (1831), pp. 199-207

NOTE: This is a very incomplete list.

Persondata
NAME Fox, Robert Were
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Robert Were Fox the Younger (his father bore the same name), Robert Were Fox F.R.S.
SHORT DESCRIPTION Businessman and Scientist
DATE OF BIRTH April 26, 1789
PLACE OF BIRTH Falmouth, Cornwall, U.K.
DATE OF DEATH July 25, 1877),
PLACE OF DEATH Falmouth, Cornwall, U.K.

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

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