Albert and Ebenezer Fox

Albert Ebenezer and Ebenezer Albert Fox were infamous poachers who lived in Stevenage in the late 1800s and early 1900s. They are also known as the Twin Foxes. They were identical twins.

They were born in 1857 in Symonds Green and named after the Ebenezer Chapel (Baptist Church) on Albert Street, of which their father, Henry Fox, was a devout supporter. Their mother, Charlotte Fox, was a straw-plait worker and their father farmed ten acres of land.

Despite their respectable background, the twins turned to a life of crime. They made sure never to go poaching together, and often escaped their frequent encounters with the constabulary by providing for each other. Despite this, they did spend time in prison where they attracted the attention of Sir Edward Henry who used twins, including the Foxes, to prove that an individual could be identified by his fingerprints. Their crimes made national and international news.

Both twins ended their days in Chalkdell House, Hitchin. Ebenezer died on 2 October 1926, aged 68, and Albert died on 20 May 1937, aged 79.

In 1953, the Twin Foxes Public House opened in the Bedwell area of Stevenage.

More recently in 1998, an estate of 59 properties in Woolmer Green, the other side of Knebworth from Stevenage was named Twin Foxes after Albert and Ebenezer Fox. Busts of both men rest on top of pillars at the entrance to the estate with years of birth and death.

References

*Ashby, Margaret (1995) "Stevenage Past". Phillimore & Co Ltd. ISBN 0-85033-970-7
*cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9507E4DC133BE633A2575AC0A9649C946296D6CF&oref=slogin|format=PDF|title=Twin Poachers Mixed Up|work=New York Times|date=1913-02-09|accessdate=2008-01-28

The Twin Foxes pub in 54 Rockingham Way, Stevenage is named after the twins. Inside they have a wooden carving on the brothers on the wall.