Author: Fox, Charles
Biography:
FOX, Charles (1748-1809: findmypast.com)
An interesting member of the Bristol circle of Cottle and Southey (qq.v.) in the 1790s, Fox was born in Budock, Cornwall, on 2 May 1748 to Rebecca (Steevens) and John Fox, Quakers who attended the Penryn, Falmouth meeting. Educated by his "intelligent" parents, Fox developed wide-ranging intellectual interests--medicine, natural history, literature, and languages. For a time he owned a bookshop in Falmouth. After it burned down, he went on his travels in the Baltic nations. (In the eulogy spoken at his funeral, it was claimed that he understood Latin, French, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Arabic.) An inheritance freed him to retire from trade and to cultivate his interests, especially the study of Oriental languages for which he accumulated an important collection of books and mss. In Bristol he married Hannah Ferrieres, of Huguenot descent, on 3 May 1789. Southey in a letter of 1797 refers to Fox and his "family" so it is possible that there were children although no other record has been found. Cottle published the translations of Achmed Ardebeili--an obscure figure identified as a "Persian exile"--in 1797. (There are said to have been two more volumes of translations from Persian left unpublished at Fox's death, but nothing is known of their whereabouts.) The Foxes settled at Villa Place, Bathwick, Bath, and had a reputation as generous hosts, especially to visiting writers and scholars needing access to the library. He died there on 1 Mar. 1809 and was buried at the Argyle Chapel (Independent) of Bath on 8 Mar. (findmypast.com 18 Oct. 2021; ODNB 18 Oct. 2021; J--- P---, "Funeral Eulogium," Bristol Mirror 25 Mar. 1809)