Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fox, Robert (1798?-1843)

948292Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 20 — Fox, Robert (1798?-1843)1889Gordon Goodwin

FOX, ROBERT (1798?–1843), antiquary, was admitted a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, 5 March 1819, and practised in Huntingdon and the neighbourhood. He was the founder of the Literary and Scientific Institution of Huntingdon in 1841, and was himself an able lecturer on subjects connected with antiquities, geology, natural history, and philosophy. His only publication, 'The History of Godmanchester, in the county of Huntingdon,' 8vo, London, 1831, one of the best of its class, gained him admission to the Society of Antiquaries. He was also a member of the Numismatic Society. In 1826 and 1831 he served as a bailiff of Godmanchester, and died there on 8 June 1843, aged forty-five, greatly esteemed for his benevolence. He left a small but choice collection of coins and antiquities, mostly local 'finds.' This, together with his philosophical apparatus, was purchased by subscription after his death, and placed in the Huntingdon Literary and Scientific Institution as a

testimonial to his memory. [Gent. Mag. new ser. xx. 99; Lists of Members of Royal Coll. of Surgeons; Lists of Soc. of Antiq.; Kelly's Directory of Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, &c. (1885), pp. 207-8.]

G. G.