Author: Cox, Edward William
Biography:
COX, Edward William (1809-79: ODNB)
Cox was the eldest son of William Charles Cox (1786-1846) and his wife Harriet Upcott (1773-1867). They had married on 29 Nov. 1808 in Bishops Hull, Somerset; William Cox was a corn factor until 1810 when he went into partnership in a brass foundry. Cox was born in Taunton, Somerset, on 8 Dec. 1809 and baptised there in St. Mary’s church on 5 Apr. 1810. He was educated at a school in Taunton and apprenticed on 21 Mar. 1831 to a local solicitor, James Shepherd. He subsequently set up a law practice in Taunton. Cox entered the Middle Temple and was called to the bar in May 1834 (or 1843: records vary). In Saint Mary Magdalene, Woolwich, Kent, on 9 Feb. 1836 he married Sophia Ann Harris; they had one son. Sophia died on 24 Jan. 1839 and he married Rosalinda Alicia de Grenier Fonblanque (1822-87) in St. Marylebone, London, on 15 Aug. 1844. Her father, descended from Huguenots, was a legal writer (ODNB). They had three daughters and four sons. Cox was made serjeant-at-law in 1868 and he served as a magistrate for Middlesex. In 1877 he purchased the site of Serjeants’ Inn in London. Cox contested several parliamentary elections before winning at Taunton in 1868 but he was unseated on an appeal by his opponent. He wrote many law books but made his mark particularly with periodicals including the Clerical Journal, later issued as Crockford’s Clerical Directory. Cox sought to educate the public and his legal colleagues about all aspects of the law with works such as Reports of Cases in Criminal Law Determined in All the Courts of England and Wales (1846–78). In 1843 he founded the weekly Law Times and served as the first editor. Cox had a special interest in spiritualism and among other works on the topic he published The Mechanism of Man; an Answer to the Question What Am I (1879). Cox died at home in Hendon, Middlesex, on 24 Nov. 1879 and was buried in Great Northern London Cemetery. His second wife published several books as Mrs. E. W. Cox including Twilight Tales (1855) and Our Common Insects (1864). A daughter, Ada, published novels and other works under her married name of Mrs. H. Bennett Edwards. (ODNB 17 Apr. 2024; DNB; ancestry.co.uk 17 Apr. 2024; Bristol Mercury 27 June 1835; Taunton Courier 30 Jan. 1839) SR
Other Names:
- Edward W. Cox