September 9th Alfred Fox (Birth)
     

Alfred Fox (1794 – 1874) was a member of the famous, Quaker, Fox family of Falmouth but is most renowned for establishing the gardens of Glendurgan. 

The fourth son of Robert Were Fox the Elder (July 5th) and his wife, Elizabeth Tregelles (1768–1849), he was one of ten children.  His two most famous brothers were Robert Were Fox the Younger (July 25th), Charles Fox (December 22nd) who laid out the gardens at Trebah whilst one sister, Mariana Fox, (1807–1863) was the mother of the famous mountaineer Francis Fox Tuckett.  He was also the uncle of  the famous diarist and founder of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society, Caroline Fox (May 24th).

With extensive business interests in Cornwall and South Wales, he was responsible for the family’s fisheries concerns and exports whilst also a director of the family’s shipbroking and iron foundry enterprises. 

He also acted as Consul or Vice-Consul in Falmouth for numerous European and South American countries.

Glendurgan heads the valley leading down to the idyllic riverside village of Durgan but is most famous for the cherry laurel maze (pictured above) which Fox laid out in the 1820s and 1830s and remains to this day.

 

 

 
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