# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fox, Charles Richard

1904 Errata appended.
​FOX, CHARLES RICHARD (1796–1873), numismatist, was the son of Henry Richard Vassall Fox [q. v.], third lord Holland, by Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Vassall, formerly wife of Sir Godfrey Webster, born (in 1796) before their marriage. He served in the navy from 1809 to 1813, and was present at the sieges of Cadiz (1810) and Tarragona (1813). He left the navy and entered the grenadier guards in June 1815. He became colonel in 1837 and general in 1863. He represented Calne and Tavistock in parliament, and was elected for Stroud in 1831. In November 1832 he was appointed surveyor-general of the ordnance, and was afterwards secretary to the master-general of the ordnance. He became equerry to Queen Adelaide in July 1830, and aide-de-camp to William IV in May 1832. He was elected a member of the Dilettanti Society in 1837. At the time of his death he was receiver-general of the duchy of Lancaster, having held the appointment some time.
Fox began coin-collecting early in life, and a journey to Greece and Asia Minor in 1820 stimulated his taste. He obtained many coins from the peasants, and at Priene found several specimens in dry watercourses. In 1851 he acquired one of the collections of Whittall of Smyrna. He also bought at the Pembroke, Thomas, Devonshire, and other sales. In 1840 Burnes gave him the whole of his Bactrian coins. In 1862 his collection consisted of more than ten thousand Greek coins. He published a description of part of it entitled ‘Engravings of Unedited or Rare Greek Coins,’ with descriptions and plates. Part I. (‘Europe’) London, 1856, 4to. Part II. (‘Asia and Africa’), London, 1862, 4to. The collection was purchased (after his death) in 1873 by the Royal Museum at Berlin. Dr. J. Friedlaender, who published a notice of it in the ‘Archäologische Zeitung’ for 1873 (pp. 99–103; ‘Die Fox'sche Münzsammlung’), declares that this acquisition for the first time enabled the Berlin coin-cabinet to aspire to the rank of the national collections of England and France. The Fox collection consisted of 11,500 Greek coins, among which were 330 in gold, and more than 4,000 in silver. It was remarkable for the rarity of the specimens (not a few being unique), and for the admirable state of preservation throughout (cp. Friendlaender and Von Sallet, Das königliche Münzkabinet, 1877, pp. 43–5). Fox died at his house in Addison Road on 13 April 1873, after a long illness. He married, first, on 19 June 1824, Lady Mary Fitzclarence, second daughter of the Duke of Clarence and Mrs. Jordan, a woman of great social ability, who was raised to the rank of a marquis's daughter in May 1831, was for many years state housekeeper of Windsor Castle, and died in 1864; and secondly, in August 1865, Katherine, second daughter of John Maberly, M.P., who survives him. There was no issue of the marriages. Fox's portrait when a midshipman was painted by Sir Martin Archer Shee, and a portrait of him in his sixty-sixth year is prefixed to part i. of his ‘Engravings of Unedited Coins.’ Fox had a remarkable memory and, though not a savant, much facility in acquiring knowledge. He was a man of great amiability, and a wit without cynicism. He endeavoured to make, his house a literary centre, especially of some of the younger archæologists. In politics he called himself ‘a movement whig.’
W. W.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.129 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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| 112 | i | 5 f.e. | Fox, Charles Richard: for 1831 read 1835 |