The Sun.
London, England, 1852-05-28 00:00:00

lELECTION INTELLIGENCE.
THE NEW CANDIDATE FOR TEWKESBURY,
From the Somerset County Chronicle we quote the fol-
lowing interesting biography of Mr. Edward W. Cox,
the now candidate for Ter.kesbury:—
" Mr. Edward Willitm Cu:: was the son of the late
1 Mr. William Charles Cox,- whose extensive iron and
' brass foundry have employment to more than two hun-
dred of the inhabitants of this town. The family are
very ancient and respectable residents of Taunton; and
through all its generations the late Mr. W. C. Cox was
not the least distinguished of them for that blameless
honesty and tingle-minded liberality in business which
has ever been the trust and safeguard of British com-
merce.
" The subject of the present memoir was born in the
year 18W, and received the founds tions of a classical
education at the College School of this town, of which
the Rev. T. Forster was at that time the bead master.
The intsllig-,lnce and aptitude for learning exhibited by
the youth at ones, attracted the attention of the master,
and inspired him with an interest in the progress of his
pupil which proved of great advantage to the latter; for
when Mr. Forster resigned his office at the College
School and returned to Now College, Oxford, he carried
his favourite pupil with him; and it was there, in tho
ancient seat of learning, with its impressive associations,
and under the guidance of Mr. Forster, that the educa-
tion of Mr. Cox was completed. His family originally
destined him for the Church, but, wisely leaving him a
discretion in the matter, he fixed his own choice upon
that profession for which his mental culture and active
disposition so peculiarly fitted him—the Law. Accord-
ingly, when he:had completed his studies at Oxford; he
returned to Taunton, and was articled to his uncle, Mr.
Trenchard, then one of the most respectable solicitors
in the town.

" At the age of 17 Ur. Cox edited the West of Eng-
land Magazine, which was printed and published at
Taunton, and which ha conducted for about two years,
aided by his cousin, afterwards the Rev. W. Tronchard,
by whose early death the Church was deprived of ono
of its most promising ornaments. A sacred poem, en-
titled The Opening of the Sixth Seal,' which was
much praised by the literary organs of the day and
passed iato two editions; many occasional contributions
to the various' Annuals,' at that time so much in
fashion; and a semi-satirical poem, entitled 1829; may
bo noticed among the early productitions of his muse;
and the meed of public praise awarded to all of them
might easily have tempted a less resolute mind into de-
serting the solid but more prosaic advantages of pro-
fessional life for the specious but delusive paths of
literature.

"More congenial, however, to his active disposition
seemed the pursuit of politics; and at this early age he
obtained employment as the Taunton correspondent of
the Sherborne Journal, in which capacity he acquired
the rudiments of that intimate acquaintance with the
mysteries of journalism which has proved so invaluable
to him in after life. at this time he also wrote a his-
torical romance, entitled "rhira, or the Cairn Braieh,'
v rich was afterwards published in the columns of this
journal, where it excited a great deal of interest. We
are not aware if it has appeared in any more formal
shape.

"In the year 1830, when ho was twenty-one years of
ego, he went up to the metropolis for the purpose of
oomph ting his legal education, and, having been ad-
mitted an attorney, during the same year, he returned
to Taunton, where he bad resolved to practise, and
busily occupied himself in the formation of a profes-
sional practice at once lucrative and highly respectable.
"At this period, the Reform party had no public
organ in West Somerset, and Mr. Cox considered that,
in founding a newspaper to support them, he would not
only be advancing his own iatereet, but also effecting a
great amount of public good. Encouraged by the
leaders of that party ho established the Somerset County
Gazette. Maintaining on the one band the principles of
the Whig party, and on the other strenuously opposing
everything that came in the guise of an irrational inno-
vation—a Liberal, without being a Democrat—Mr. Cox
successfully conducted this newspaper, without any as-
sistance, until the period of his leaving the country far
the metropolis, when ho transferred it to Mr. Woodley,
the present proprietor.
"In conjunction with other gentlemen of literary
tastes in this town, he established a sort of club for the
discussion of general questions and the reading of ori-
ginal papers, which were afterwards published under the
title of The Conversazione,' and were read with great
interest. To this periodical Mr. Cox contributed very
copiously; and it was in its pages that his 'Recollections
of the Life of a Lawyer,' an interesting series of tales
founded upon events in real life, originally appeared.
" In the year 1835 he married Sophia, daughter of the
late Wm. Harris, Esq., surgeon, of the Royal Artillery.
She died, however, in 1838, leaving one child, a son,
who is still living.
"During the whole of this period ho was conducting
a large and steadily-increasing practice in his profession,
but after the death of his wife he resolved to abandon
the lower branch of the law for the mere aspiring, if
less lucrative, practice.of the Bar. Accordingly, in the
early part of the your 1838, having completed all neces-
sexy arrangements, dispoee.d of his practice and of his
interest in the Somerset County Gazette, he entered his
name as a student at the Middle Temple and finally de-
parted from his native town. From this time he bade
adieu to politics. Entirely engrossed by the earnest and
laborious study of his profession, he dedicated his
thoughts end his studios to the law alone. His long ap-
prenticeship to the business of journalism, added to his
legal knowledge acquired in hie acquaintance with both
branches of the profession, especially qualified him to
undertake such an enterprise, and accordingly on the
2d of March, 1843, the first number of the Law Times
appeared, and met with that unqualified success which
has ever since attended it. It is now the recognised
organ cf the legal profession; and from the time of its
commencement to the present day Mr. Cox has been
the Sole editor and proprietor, aided by a large body of
learned contributors. To commence and conduct so
large an enterprise necessarily required both a great
outlay of capital and a very expensive establishment;
but we are enabled to state that lair. Cox undertocic the
whole of this without having received the slightest its-
sistance, either pecuniary or otherwise, from any other
person. Finding that the machinery necessary for one
would also suffice for two periodicals. Mr. Cox's active
mind devised the plan of The Critic; and here, where
the ground indeed appeared to be already so fully occu-
pied by the Athenawn and the Literary Gazette, the in-
variable success which has attended him in all his ven-
tures did not desert him, and he has distanced all his

crr,petitors. For several years The Critic was con-
ducted at a considerable loss, but Mr. Cox had confi-
dence that steady perseverance and the undoubted talent
of its contributors could not fail sooner or rater to at-
tract the notice of the putlic; and in this he was not
deceived. The Critic is now a roost valuable property,
for it circulates upwards of 7,000 copies, and its adver-
tisements are far more numerous than those of any
other literary journal. During the following year, he
established The Magistrate, a monthly journal,
medium for communicating to the magistrate of the
country such of the current law as more particularly
affects their duties. When the County Courts came into
operation, to be a
operation, the necessity for a good collection of p
of the law to b 3 administered in these courts reotarnmatc,n;
occurred to Mr. Cox, and
~ho accooethl I
y periodical, m-
a the laws affecting them.
elusively devoted to them and t . .
The County Courts Chronie,,,,
a flourish-
' r exist-ace. For some time
int, -
orgies, without
assistance; but
Both of these publications are ntohweyensr;
Mr. Cox's indefatigable energies, eorycmcgondacted by
one, q., and the
the former to the care of A. Bitt°st
his increasing eccupati.ms have ccimpelled
Ebina to commit
E;q., by whom they are now
ablylatt eted.lerdtioAorg,an Lloyd,
"In the year 1846, Mr. Cox conimenced the series of
criminal reports so well known as Cox's Criminal Law
Cases, which ho still continues. They are much in re-
profession, and received as the authority in
qt.huiees
branchtby h
teof the law, Besides those periodical publi-
cationst,heMr. Cox
following
liaspublished, within the last nine
years,works:—
~ 1, . The Law and Practice of Elections.'—(This has
acne through six editions.)
-6,2, . The Duties of Constables.'
3, , The Practice of Poor Removals.'—(Two edi-
tions.)
4. ' The Consolidation Acts.'—(Two editions.)
The Law aud Practice of :the County. Courts,'
in connexion with Mr. Morgan Lloyd.--(Four ed. ' )
•' 6. 'The 'New Criminal-Statutesand 111. s."
Digest,' in
conjunction with Mr. 13abinkfon.
~ 7. ' The Now Evidence Act, with Notes, &-c.'
And he has now in the press a work in whichl
endeavoured to embody the matured results ofhe has
perience of the practice of the law,
under his ex_
title of
The Advocate, his Training, Pra th
t.
Duties.' la°, Rights, and
the W" Mr. Cox was called to the bar in 1843,
diately joined the Somerset Sessions and - and
imme-
Circuit, upca both of which he attained estern
an almost im-
mediate success. He soon became fa
de-
fence of prisoners, for which part his famous for the
mental quick-
ness, his comprehensive grasp offacts, and his
oratorical powers, always read
fitted him. y for use, especially
" Before two years had elapsed
, hto
the Devon Sessions, induced by anothere of tboseremoved op-
portunities which opened for him there the path to
SUCCOSS.
" Since his establishment in Lon. don, i"n the year
1835, he has married Rosslinda daughter of
Mr. Commissioner Fonblan Aiicla, only
granddaughterdaughter
famous author of the ' Treatise lini:cff ro'f
Albany Fonblanque, E.3(21 , thee on Equity,'lc 6
tebaratrd editor
of the Examiner. By this' ladytohe-shsacs 'had four chil-
dren, of whom three daughtersare now living.
" Having thus, by an industry and perseverance which
are almost without a parallel, combined Kith uncommonf.
prudence and business-like habits, crested for himsel ,in
the prixislle of life, a fortune, a name, and a position, M .
Cox
- now aspirin to the highest honour which our
g .
deserving citizens,
free country can confer upon its most
d'el for the
I a,re —a seat in the Parlia U .s
a candidate
ment. 0 I e where, it is
borough of Towkesb in Gioucestershir ,
~
ury,
said, he has ' d the respect and esteem of all
already secure ts by the mode-
ration of his opinions and his courteous bearing
his" oppozents.
To Bum up in a few words . athe doings we have 70-