Family tree Weebers-Lips-Albers-Fox-Guion » Charles James (Charles James ) Fox (1829-1895)

Personal data Charles James (Charles James ) Fox 

• First name Charles James .
• He was born on June 2, 1829 in Ramsgate, Kent, England, Great Britain.
• He died on December 12, 1895 in Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada, he was 66 years old.
• A child of Charles James Fox and Anne Mary Guion
• This information was last updated on October 24, 2011.

Household of Charles James (Charles James ) Fox

(1) He is married to Elizabeth Anna Carkeet.

They got married on September 2, 1854 at Plymouth, Devon, England, he was 25 years old.

1854 in the (Catholic) Chapel of St Mary at St Mary's Street in the district of East Stonehouse and county of Devon

At this time Charles James described himself as a bachelor aged 25, a DENTIST residing at number 27 Mortimer Street, Cavendish Square, LONDON, the son of Charles James Fox, a physician.

His bride was a 25 year old spinster residing at number 17 Woolster Street, Plymouth, the daughter of John Mills Carkeet, a merchant.

3 witnesses to the wedding were Mary, Margaret & William Carkeet, probably all siblings of the bride, though one of the women may have been her mother

1871 census: Charles James Fox, Charles James son), Francis John, Matilda Fulker (surgery attendant), & Louisa Simpson (domestic servant) at Mortimer St.
CJF & Elizabeth Anna must have separated by this time.

1881 census for 16 Cromwell Terrace, Chelsea: Elizabeth A Fox, head, married, age 52. CJF, son, 25, Mary T, daughter age 19. Margaret C daughter, age 16, 3 lodgers and a maid servant.

1891 census for Little Ilford Essex: Margaret C Fox as head, single & 25 years. Rita Fox is listed as her sister, single 24 and also born Cavendish Square Middlesex (Mortimer St).

Child(ren):

1. Charles James Fox  1855-1930
2. Elizabeth Anna Fox  1857-1863
3. Francis John Fox  1859-???? 
4. Mary Theodora Fox  1861-????
5. William Henry Fox  1863-????
6. Margaret Carkeet Fox  1866-1928 
7. Rita Fox  1867-????

The couple are divorced.

It would seem that Charles James and his wife Elizabeth Anne Carkeet had separated.

(2) He is married to Agatha Mary Fulker.

They got married about 1890.

Child(ren):

1. NN Fox  

Notes about Charles James (Charles James ) Fox

Wrote a friendly note to George Alexander Fox, grandfather of Cathy Stevenson Fox, offering him a seat in the coach conveying mourners from the Brompton Oratory to Kensal Rise Cemetery.

One of the founders of modern dentistry.
His historian, N. David Richards, says that, to lift dentistry from a poorly recognised itinerant craft to full professional status, three things were required:
the organisation of dental societies and associations,
the inauguration and development of securely-backed journals, and the establishment of dental hospitals and schools.
In all these things Charles James Fox had a key part to play; but of far greater importance were the ideas which he expressed, in 1870, were to spark off the "forces which....led...to the...Acts which have given legal recognition to dentistry's claim to professional status."

Richards N.D. Dentistry a Hundred Years ago: Charles James Fox - the Forgotten Man.
Presented to the Lindsay Club, April 8, 1970.

The professionalization of dentistry in the United Kingdom

125 years of developments in dentistry, 1880?2005 Part 2: Law and the dental profession See: The 1878 act and the struggle for registration.

Also in - Medicine and Science in the 1960's - Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine, 1969.

The Toronto directory for 1882 lists Fox C J MRCS, LDS, Eng Dentist 108 King St West.

Agatha Fulker mentioned as baptismal sponsor is a younger sister of a Matilda Fulker who was his dental assistant in London.

from the Dentists' Register which only began in 1879.

Qualified with a Licentiate in Dental Surgery from the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1860 (incidentally the first year this qualification became available)
He registered on September 10th 1878 and gave his address as 82 Mortimer Street, Cavendish Square, London
He appears in the Dentists Register every year [we don't have a register for 1880] up to and including 1889. He then disappears from the register.
I'm not sure if you though he was practising in Canada after 1882; if he was I would have expected him to give his Canadian address as there are examples in the Register of dentists giving foreign addresses.

Charles James Fox Junior
He did not have a qualification. Instead he is listed as "In practice before July 22 1878" [see footnote]
He registered on 31st July 1879 and gave his address as East Temple Chambers, Whitefriars Street, Fleet Street, London
In 1882 he is listed at 6 Cromwell Terrace, West Kensington Park, London
In 1885 he is listed at 99 High Street, Kensington, London
In 1888 he is listed at 39 Cambridge Street, Hyde Park, London
In 1889 he is listed at 48 Cathcart Road, South Kensington and is listed at that address until 1900, the last year he appears in the register.
Incidentally he had dropped the word "Junior" from his name by 1888 even though his father is still listed that year and the following.

Footnote;
the Dentists Act of 1878 said that to call oneself a "dentist" or "dental surgeon" and go on the Dentists Register you had to have a recognised qualification. However those dentists practising before 1878 without a qualification could use those titles and go on the register; it applied to all new dentists.

British Dental Association Museum
British Dental Association
64 Wimpole Street
London W1G 8YS
Tel. 0207 535 5860
Fax. 0207 935 6492
The Museum is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1pm to 4pm; other times by appointment. Admission free.

From the Ontario Archives:
Census for Town of Gravenhurst Ontario, East Simcoe District, April 17, 1891
Fox Charles J head of household age 62 born-England Roman Catholic surgeon dentist
Fox Agatha wife age 38 born England Roman Catholic

Registration of deaths for Gravenhurst, County of Muskoka
Agatha Mary Fox died April 7, 1895 42 years wife of Dr Charles James Fox born Reading England
Cause of death: Sudden heart failure from chloroform
Signed C J Fox MCPS Ont (Member College Physicians & Surgeons Ontario) attending physician C J Fox
C J Fox informant registered April 15, 1895 religion Roman Catholic
Charles James Fox died December 12, 1895 67 years Dentist Surgeon born Margate England
Cause of death: Chloroform suddenly
Signed Dr A J Campbell attending physician Henry Edward Fox - informant registered December 12, 1895 religion Roman Catholic

Will of Charles James Fox RCS, CDS, England
This is the Last Will and Testament of me Charles James Fox RCS, CDS, England late of 82 Mortimer Street, Cavendish Square London England and now residing in Gravenhurst Muskoka ( and at the Reteat? City Lake township of Wood Ontario) Ontario Canada , I give and bequeath all my real and personal estate whatsoever and wheresoever to my dearly beloved wife Agatha Mary Fox and I appoint her sole Executrix and Administrator of this my will. In writing whereof I have hereunto set my hand this Twenty first day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety (1890)
Signed by the said
Charles James Fox
The Testator as and for his last Will & Testament
In the presence of us both & in the presence of each other
Who at his request have hereunto Subscribed our names as witness thereof on this 21'st day of July 1890
John Drummond
James Paterson
This will was handwritten by CJ Fox with several errors crossed out.

Since Agatha Mary Fox died before her husband CJ Fox RCS CDS, there was no valid will or administrator. His brother Henry Edward Fox, his only living relative in Canada, was appointed administrator. On February 18, 1896, the Surrogate Court Of Muskoka and Parry Sound granted a Letter of Administration of the Property of Charles James Fox deceased intestate, to the Toronto General Trust Company. The said Henry Edward Fox has renounced all his right and Title to Letters of Administration.

It appears that Charles James Fox and his second wife Agatha (Fulker) Fox were self-medicating and either by accident or on purpose died by overdoses of chloroform. It would be to-day's equivalent of sniffing glue. They seem to have died in abject poverty and probably could not face life any longer. This is truly a tragic tale for someone so capable in his profession.

Petition of the Toronto General Trust Company - February 18, 1896
Charles James Fox of the Town of Gravenhurst in the District of Muskoka, Surgeon Dentist
Died twelth day of December one thousand eight hundred and Ninety five.
The deceased died a widower and without leaving any child or other relative except a brother named Henry Edward Fox residing in Canada and without a will.
That the value of the whole property of the deceased which he in any way died possessed is under six hundred and four dollars and eleven cents. The value of the personal Estate and Effects is under One hundred and four dollars and eleven cents, and the Real Estate is under five hundred dollars.

Inventory of Real and Personal Estate
Debts, mortgage, stocks life assurance, bank shares, securities, cash on hand -None
Cash in bank - four dollars and eleven cents
Real Estate - consisting of house and land in Gravenhurst worth about $500, and subject to a mortgage on which is due about $350
Personal Estate - Household Goods and furniture and Books, Farming equipments, carpenter's tools and Dental instruments about $100.
Real estate consisting of lot number 10 and west half of lot number 9 on West side of First Street in the town of Gravenhurst worth about $500, and subject to a mortgage which is due about $350.

Statement made by Henry Edward Fox to Surrogate Court Muskoka and Parry Sound - February eighteenth 1896
I Henry Edward Fox of the City of Toronto in the County of York, Artist, make oath and say absolutely I am a brother of Charles James Fox. Charles James Fox formerly resided in London England. He came to Canada about fifteen years ago. He resided first at the City of Toronto for a year or two then in the vicinity of the Town of Gravenhurst and he afterwards moved into the said Town of Gravenhurst where he resided at the time of his death.

He was twice married. His first wife did not come to Canada with him and died in London about the year 1890. By her he had six children. One died in infancy and the remaining five (of whom three are boys and two are girls) are still living. One boy resides in London, England, another boy is supposed to be somewhere in India, and the remaining boy is supposed to be somewhere in the United States of America. The two girls are married and reside in London England. His second wife died in Gravenhurst during his lifetime and about the month of March last. By her he had one child only, who died in infancy.

Since the said Charles James Fox came to Canada there has been very little communication between him and his relatives in England as I believe. To the best of my knowledge and belief I am his only relative in Canada. After his death I wrote to one of his daughters in London, England, about his estate and she replied that she had spoken to her brother there about same and that they do not care to have anything to do with such estate. I believe such estate will not do more than pay the funeral and administrative expenses and debts of the said Charles James Fox.
Signed Henry Edward Fox

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