July 24th Robert Barclay Fox (Birth)
     

Robert Barclay Fox (1817 – 1855), always known as Barclay Fox, was a member of the famous, Quaker, Fox family of shipping agents, merchants, mine owners and horticulturalists.

The son of Robert Were Fox the Younger (July 25th), he was educated at Winchester College and Magdalen College, Oxford.  Subsequently, Fox became the senior partner in the mining conglomerate G.C. Fox which invested in the Gwennap copper mines, ‘Poldice’ and ‘Wheal Unity’. 

Due to the prestigious nature of the family, Fox was appointed Consul for Denmark and Vice-Consul for Norway and was knighted (Order of St. Olav) by the King of Norway.  Barclay Fox married his cousin, Margaret (Peggy) Bassett who with his sister, Naomi Bassett Fox, formed the Falmouth branch of the Women's Suffrage Society. Fox inherited Penjerrick from his father. The estate is situated between Mawnan Smith and Budock and he developed it as the ‘jungle garden’ (shown above in a 1905 postcard) which remains popular to this day.



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