FOX, George, English religionist, founder of the Society of Friends: b. Drayton, Leices tershire, England, July 1624; d. London, 13 Jan. 1690. He was the son of a weaver in good cir cumstances. While yet a boy he was distin guished by his gravity and exemplary conduct. When in the 20th year of his age, and for some two or three years afterward, Fox describes himself as having been in a distressed state of mind, but from this condition he was at length delivered by that which he regarded as the voice of God in his soul, directing him to Christ as alone able "to speak to his condition.° Very soon after this he commenced his public minis trations at Dukinfied, Manchester and the neighborhood. In 1646 he ceased to attend church. From the first his preaching seems to have made many converts, mainly from the lower middle class, and excited much opposi tion. Fox's first imprisonment took place in the year 1649, in consequence of his opposing the preacher in "the great steeple-house at Notting ham," on a point of doctrine. In 1650 he was imprisoned at Derby under a false charge of blasphemy. One of the committing justices, Bennet, acted with great violence on this occa sion, and it was he who on Fox's bidding him "tremble at the word of the Lord° first applied to him and his friends the name of Quakers. Fox lay in prison at Derby for about a year, the time having been lengthened in consequence of his refusal to accept a commission as captain of one of the regiments then being raised by Parliament. To his belief in non-resistance and in the unlawfulness of all war, which prompted this refusal, was added at the same time a clear view of the enormity of the punishment of death for crimes affecting property only, and he exerted himself to save the life of a poor woman then in jail for theft. •Within 10 years of Fox's appearance as a preacher, meetings of the Friends were established in most parts of England. At the same time, so actively were they persecuted, that for many years there were seldom less than 1,000 of them in prison. Cromwell, though himself favorable to liberty of conscience, and before whom Fox appeared in 1655, seems to have been unable to curb the excesses of popular hostility launched in all quarters against a sect which denounced all state interference with religion and maintained that the gospel should be preached without fee or reward. His doctrine of "the inner light* rested on one central idea, "God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.° About a month after the restoration of Charles II, Fox was committed to Lancaster Castle, "on the charge of being a common dis turber of the peace and of endeavoring to make insurrection and embroil the whole kingdom in blood.° After lying in jail some months, a habeas corpus was obtained, and the authorities showed their disbelief of these grave charges by allowing Fox himself, unbailed and unguarded, to convey to London the sheriff's return to the writ. The hopes entertained by the members of the young society that they would be allowed a breathing-time from persecution were dispelled at the commencement of 1661 by the atrocious measures which followed the mad attempt of Venner and his Fifth-Monarchy men. The act empowering magistrates to tender the oaths of allegiance and supremacy to any person whom they thought fit to suspect, also operated with great severity against the Friends; under its provisions Fox was committed to prison at Lan caster in the beginning of 1664, whence he was removed to Scarborough Castle, where he lay till the autumn of 1666. In 1669 Fox married Margaret Fell, who was 10 years his senior and the widow of one of the judges of the Welsh courts, and who proved a faithful coadjutor as well as helpmeet. The year 1670 witnessed the passing of the most stringent of the Conventicle Acts, forbidding under heavy penalties the assembling for religious worship, in any house, of more than four persons besides the family, except according to the usages of the Church of England. Soon after his recovery from a se vere illness be sailed for Barbadoes, where he exerted himself greatly in the interests of re ligion and humanity. It was while in this island that Fox drew up a statement of his own and his friends' belief in all the great doctrines of Christianity—a statement clearly disproving their alleged sympathy with Socinian tenets. After a considerable time spent in Barbadoes, Jamaica and the North American continent, he returned to England in 1673, where further per secutions awaited him. He underwent 14 months' imprisonment in Worcester jail, and was at length liberated by the Court of King's Bench on account of the errors in his indict ment. In all, he suffered eight terms of im prisonment. In 1677, in company with Penn and Barclay, who had joined the Society about 10 years before, he paid a visit to Holland and some parts of Germany, where his services seem to have been well received. The last 15 years of his life were tranquil as regards per sonal molestation, but he continued to be ac tively engaged in various ways in promoting the welfare of his brethren. Their persecutions
continued throughout the reign of Charles II. In the first year of William and Mary was passed the bill which nullified the Conventicle Acts, and allowed the Friends to make a solemn declaration in lieu of taking the oaths, and Fox had the gratification of seeing the public wor ship of the Society legally recognized before his death. Fox was a mystic and visionary; but there was another side of character; his mind was one of singular penetration, and his 'Journal' is one of the world's most famous books, rich in spiritual insight, in noble sim plicity and in moral fibre. his schemes for the relief of the poor and the education of the people he was far in advance of his age. He typified in his generation that manifestation of the love of God which has been so singularly exemplified in the history of Society of Friends in practical and unostentatious service to the well-being of their fellowmen. (See FRIENDS, SOCIETY OF). His works were issued in three volumes 1694-1700. The best edition was that published in Philadelphia (8 vols.) in 1831. Consult Sewell, 'History of the Quakers' ; Lives by Marsh (1848) ; Janney (1853) ; Watson (1860) ; Hodgkin (1897); Wood (1912) ; Tallack, 'George Fox, the Friends and the Early Baptists' (1868); Bick ley, 'George Fox and the Early Quakers' (1884).
FOX, George L., American actor: b. Bos ton, Mass., 3 July 1825; d. 24 Oct. 1877. He first appeared at the Tremont Street Theatre in the 'Hunter of the Alps' ; became known as a low comedian at the National Theatre, New York; was a lieutenant in the Union army at Bull Run, and later became manager of the New Bowery Theatre. Here he gained for him self a distinct position by his burlesque imita tions of favorite tragedians of the time, and his pantomimes, the best of which was (Humpty Dumpty,> in which from 1867 to his retirement in 1876 he appeared as the clown.
FOX, Gustavus Vasa, American naval offi cer: b. Saugus, Mass., 13 June 1821; d. New York, 29 Oct. 1883. He was appointed to the United States navy in 1838, in which he served till 1856, when he resigned with the rank of lieutenant. He was subsequently appointed as sistant secretary of the navy, and held this post till the end of the Civil War. He planned a number of operations for the navy, including the capture of New Orleans; and was sent by the government on the monitor Maintonomah to convey the congratulations of Congress to Alexander II on his escape from assassination. His visit to Russia materially aided the acquisi tion of Alaska by the United States, and was the longest voyage then made in a monitor.
FOX, Henry Edward, English soldier, brother of Charles James Fox: b. 1755; d. 1811. He was educated at Westminster School and entered the King's Dragoons in 1770. In 1773 he was in command of the Thirty-eighth at Boston. He took part in the battles of Con cord, Bunker Hill, Long Island, White Plains, Brandywine and Philadelphia and in 1778 be came lieutenant colonel of the 49th Regiment stationed in the West Indies. He returned to England in 1783 and was appointed aide-de-camp to the king. He was commissioned major-gen eral in 1793 and commanded brigades at Rou baix, Mouveaux and Pont-a-Chin. From 1801 to 1803 he was stationed at Minorca, and in the latter year was made commander of the forces in Ireland, where he had to deal with the uprising headed by Robert Emmet. In 1804 he became lieutenant-governor of Gibraltar and in 1806 became ambassador to Naples and commander of the British forces in Sicily. He failed in his mission there and was recalled in 1807, became general in 1808, and in 1811 was appointed governor of Portsmouth.
FOX, John William, American novelist: b. Bourbon County, Ky., 1863. He was grad uated from Harvard in 1883. He began life as a journalist, later traveled extensively in the South and Southwest and for some time was engaged in mercantile affairs at Cumberland Gap. He has published 'A Cumberland Ven detta' (1896) ; 'Hell fer Sartain and Other Stories' (1897) ; 'A Mountain Europa' (1899); 'The Kentuckians' (1898) ; 'Crittenden' (1900) ; 'Blue Grass and Rhododendron' (1901) ; 'Christmas Eve on Lonesome' (1902); 'The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come' (1903) ; 'Following the Sun Flag' (1906); 'Knight of the Cumberland' (1906) ; 'Trail of the Lonesome Pine' (1908) ; 'The Heart of the Hills' (1913) ; 'In Happy Valley' (1917).
FOX, Luke, English navigator: b. Hull, 1586; d. 1635. At an early age he went to sea and rose in due time to the rank of commander. On 30 April 1631 he set out from London to search for a northwest passage to the Orient He explored the western shore of what we now know as Baffin Land, discovered Cum berland Island and named several headlands along Hudson Strait; northern channel is named in his honor. The account of his explorations, together with a map of the regions, is em bodied in the work entitled 'Northwest Fox; or, Fox from the Northwest Passage' (1635; also in publications of the Hakluyt Society with notes by Christy, London 1894).