Robert Were Fox the Younger

Robert Were Fox FRS (26 April 1789 – 25 July 1877) was an English geologist, natural philosopher and inventor.He is known mainly for his work on the temperature of the earth and his construction of a compass to measure magnetic dip at sea.

Life and family

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. [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 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/10042 accessed 13 June 2006] . Page 133 of the [http://books.google.com/books?id=EyoJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA94&dq=Robert+Were+Fox+biography#PPA133,M1 Dictionary of National Biography (1899)] also has information on Fox.]

Fox was born on 26 April 1789 at Falmouth, the eldest son of Robert Were Fox (1754 – 1818) [. 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 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/42083 accessed 13 June 2006] .] and his wife, Elizabeth Tregelles. He had nine siblings.

In 1814, Fox the Younger married Maria Barclay (1785 – 1858), daughter of Robert and Rachel Barclay of Bury Hill, near Dorking, Surrey. Maria's sister, Lucy, married Fox's elder brother, George Croker Fox.

Robert Were Fox the Younger and his wife had three children, Anna Maria (1816 – 1897), Barclay (1817 – 1855) and Caroline (1819 – 1871). Both Caroline and Barclay Fox's journals have been published.

Robert Were Fox the Younger died on July 25, 1877 and was buried at the Quaker Burial Ground at Budock [R. W. Fox was buried at the Quaker Burial Ground, Budock, along with his daughters, Anna Maria and Caroline, according to a Burial Plan at the Cornwall Record Office. However, no gravestones for them remain: the Burial Ground was vandalised in the 1970s and many gravestones broken. ] .

Business interests

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

Fox and Joel Lean were granted a patent in 1812 for their modifications of steam engines. [cite journal | title = Specifications of the patent granted to Robert Were Fox and Joel Lean | journal = The Repertory of Arts and Manufactures, Arts, Manufactures and Agriculture | year = 1813 | volume = 23 | pages 200 – 204 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=plIEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA200&dq=robert+were+fox&lr=&as_brr=1#PPA200,M1 | accessdate = 2008-09-14]

Horticultural interests

Fox's gardens at Rosehill [ [http://members.tripod.com/morrablectures/fox.htm Sandra & George Pritchard's Fox Rosehill Garden website (accessed 9 December 2007).] The Fox Rosehill Gardens and Penjerrick are now both open to the public.] and Penjerrick, near Falmouth, became noted for the number of exotic plants which he and his son, Barclay, had naturalized.

Scientific work

right|thumb|Experimental apparatus of Fox [">cite journal | author = Fox, Robert Wear ("sic") | title = Experiments Illustrative of the Influence of Voltaic Electricity on Copper Pyrites
journal = The Annals of Electricity, Magnetism, and Chemistry | year = 1837 | volume = 1 | pages = 133 – 134 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=SXgMAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Annals+of+electricity&as_brr=1#PPA133,M1 | accessdate = 2007-12-08 ] Fox's work was in what today would be referred to as geophysics. He was distinguished for his researches on the internal temperature of the earth, contributing papers to the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, [Denise Crook, ‘Fox, Robert Were (1789–1877)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/10042 accessed 15 Nov 2007] ] and being the first to prove that temperature definitely increases with depth (the geothermal gradient), his observations being conducted in Cornish mines from 1815 for a period of forty years. [ [http://www.cornish-mining.org.uk/story/schools.htm Mining History Site places Fox in his context.] ] In 1829 he began a set of experiments on the artificial production of miniature veins by means of the long-continued influence of electric currents, and his main results were published in 1836. [cite journal | author = Fox, Robert Were | title = Observations on Mineral Veins | journal = Reports of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society | year = 1836 | volume = | pages = | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=cwQ4AAAAMAAJ | accessdate = 2007-12-08 ]

In 1834 Fox constructed an improved form of deflector dipping needle compass, or dip circle, for polar navigation. [Dipping NeedleIn "A New and 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."

] One was used by Sir James Clark Ross on his Antarctic expedition and used to discover the position of the South magnetic pole. [ [http://www.shnh.org/PUB_ANH_next_abs.html#McCONNELL Archives of Natural History] ] .

He was a key person in the development of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society and its promotion of scientific research and training. He was an active member of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.

Robert Were Fox, his cousin, George Croker Fox (1784-1850) and brother, Alfred Fox, assembled excellent collections of minerals, which are now in the British Museum (Natural History), given by Arthur Russell. [Mineralogy references: Embery, P.G. and Symes, R.F. (1987) "Minerals of Cornwall and Devon", British Museum (Natural History), ISBN Hardback 0-565-01046-8 Paperback 0-565-00989-3.]

Honours and activities

* Fellow of the Royal Society (Elected September 9, 1848) [ [http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/page.asp?id=1727 Lists of Royal Society Fellows 1660-2007] ] : The Society owns a collection of 125 letters addressed to Fox and his family. [ [http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/page.asp?id=3297 Royal Society Library: Collection of the Month, September 2005, Fox papers] and [http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search2?coll_id=5985&inst_id=18 listing of archives] ]

Selected writings

The following is a very incomplete list of Fox's writings. According to "The Dictionary of National Biography" (1889), Fox authored 52 scientific papers. [Citation | last = Harrison | first = W. Jerome | contribution = Robert Were Fox | editor-last = Stephen | editor-first = Leslie | title = Dictionary of National Biography | volume = 2 | pages = 133 | publisher = Macmillan and Company | place = New York | year = 1889 | contribution-url = http://books.google.com/books?id=EyoJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA94&dq=Robert+Were+Fox+biography#PPA133,M1 ]

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* cite journal | author = Fox, Robert Wear ("sic") | title = Experiments Illustrative of the Influence of Voltaic Electricity on Copper Pyrites
journal = The Annals of Electricity, Magnetism, and Chemistry | year = 1828 | volume = 3 | pages = 133 – 134 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=SXgMAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Annals+of+electricity&as_brr=1#PPA133,M1 | accessdate = 2007-12-08

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* cite journal | author = Fox, Robert Were | title = On Certain Pseudo-Morphous Crystals of Quartz
journal = The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal | year = 1846 | volume = 40 | pages = 115 – 120| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=RB0AAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA115&dq=mineral+vein+fox&as_brr=1#PPA115,M1 | accessdate = 2007-12-08

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* "A Catalogue of the Works of Robert Were Fox, F.R.S., with a Sketch of his Life" (1878), by J. H. Collins, Truro, Lake & Lake.

Notes and references

Further reading

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External links

* [http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?arrow=1&
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* [http://books.google.com/books?id=BZ0MAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA161&dq=robert+were+fox&as_brr=1#PPA161,M1 Description of the Fox dip circle] - "The Encyclopedia Britannica" (1888). 9th edition, New York, volume 16, page 161.

* [http://books.google.com/books?id=3btCJAsYqroC&pg=PA767&dq=robert+were+fox&as_brr=1 Biographical information] - "The Encyclopedia Britannica" (1910). 11th edition, New York, volume 10, pages 767 – 768.

*- Dedicated to Robert Were Fox the Younger

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.

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