Brighton Photographers: COX
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Brighton Photographers (Cox) |
Samuel George Cox - Cox & Burnell (partnership between Samuel George Cox and Elizabeth Dorothy Dorrell Burnell ) - J. T. Cox |
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Samuel
George Cox (1824-1876) Samuel George Cox
was born in Bedford, Bedfordshire in 1824, the son of George
and Sarah Cox. (Samuel Cox was christened at St Paul's
Church, Bedford on 23rd May 1824). Samuel's father,
George Cox (born c1792),
who is reported to have been a "Glass Dealer",
had married Sarah Browne (born c1793) in
Cardington, Bedfordshire
around the year 1814. Samuel appears to have been one of nine
children born to
Sarah
and George Cox. Samuel Cox's eight siblings, three girls and five
boys, were Mary Ann Cox (born 1815),
Eliza Cox (born 1817),
Sarah Cox (born 1820), Joseph Cox (born 1822),
John Cox (born 1826),
Benjamin
Cox (born 1828), George
Cox (born 1830) and David Cox (born 1822). Two of Samuel's
brothers died in infancy - John Cox died on 28th January 1831, when
he was 4 years of age and his younger brother
George
Cox died at the age of 15 months on 1st January 1832.
Samuel George Cox - Stationer
& Bookseller in Brighton The 1851 edition of the Post Office Directory of Brighton lists Samuel Cox as a "Stationer" at 24 Queen's Road, Brighton. Cox's stationery business was situated on the western side of Queen's Road, a few doors away from the Feathers Tavern. Queen's Road was a recently constructed commercial thoroughfare, built in 1845 to improve the access to Brighton Railway Station from North Street and West Street. When Samuel Cox set up his business at No. 24, Queen's Road was still being developed and a number of buildings were added to the thoroughfare during the early 1850s. The addition of dozens of shops, businesses and public buildings during this period meant that the existing business premises in Queen's Road had to be re-numbered; The Feathers Tavern which had been numbered 22 became No. 53 and Samuel Cox's stationery business changed its shop number from No. 24 to No.55. During the development of Queen's Road in the early 1850s, Samuel Cox acquired the building next-door (No.56) which had previously housed the naturalist William Pike. By 1854, Cox's business premises spanned two shop fronts, local trade directories recording Samuel George Cox as a "Wholesale and Retail Stationer, Print-seller and Bookseller" at 55 & 56 Queen's Road, Brighton.
It appears that, in addition to his stationery business in Queen's Road, Brighton, Samuel George Cox also operated a Fancy Goods Bazaar at The Swiss Gardens in Shoreham-by-Sea, some 6 miles west of Brighton. Created in 1838 by a local ship owner named James Britton Bally (1789-1863), The Swiss Gardens had been developed as a "pleasure resort" in the 1850s by Edward Goodchild (1815-1878). The Swiss Gardens was a very popular place of entertainment, including amongst its many attractions a very large ballroom, a dining hall, a refreshment bar and a boating lake. A legal notice published in 1856 noted that Samuel George Cox had been the Keeper of the "Fancy Goods" Bazaar in The Swiss Gardens, Shoreham, for 4 seasons (probably during the period 1852-1855).
W. J. Taylor's Original Brighton & Hove Directory of 1854 lists Samuel George Cox as a "Wholesale and Retail Stationer, Print-seller and Bookseller" at 55 & 56 Queen's Road, Brighton. However, before the end of 1855, Samuel George Cox was in severe financial difficulties and by February 1856 he had been imprisoned as an insolvent debtor in the County Gaol in Lewes. At the time of his arrest, Samuel George Cox was living at 55 Gardner Street, Brighton. On 1st March 1856, Samuel George Cox was declared "out of business" and an "insolvent debtor".
On his release from the debtors' prison, Samuel George Cox entered into a relationship with Elizabeth Dorothy Dorrell Burnell (born 23rd September 1832, Bembridge, Isle of Wight), a young woman who was set to inherit money and property from her maiden aunt, Mary Dorrell Burnell of 10 Crescent Place, Brighton. It appears that Miss Mary Burnell had adopted Elizabeth, her brother's daughter, when the young girl had lost (or been abandoned by) her father. When Miss Mary Dorrell Burnell, the young woman's guardian, died on 26th May 1857 at the age of 57, Elizabeth Dorothy Dorrell Burnell was informed by her solicitor that she was due to inherit her late aunt's money, stocks and property on her 25th birthday.
In the August of 1857, Miss Elizabeth Burnell went to board with Samuel George Cox, then described as a "photographic artist" of 9c St George's Road, Brighton. Miss Burnell's solicitor, John Randall, was alarmed by his client's close relationship with Samuel Cox, noting that the former stationer and bookseller had failed twice before in his business dealings. Elizabeth Dorothy Dorrell Burnell was to become the beneficiary of her late aunt's will on 23rd September 1857, her 25th birthday. Stocks from her aunt's business interests became available to Elizabeth Burnell on 26th October 1857. John Randall, the family solicitor had noted that Miss Burnell was "a person on whom the world will easily impose". Evidently, Elizabeth Burnell planned to provide Samuel Cox with funds to develop his business at 9c St George's Road, Brighton. (The construction of a glasshouse studio, to be attached to Cox's premises in St George's Road, would have required a certain amount of capital and Samuel Cox had recently been declared an "insolvent debtor"). During his correspondence with Miss Burnell, John Randall discovered that the young heiress had sold her stocks and purchased four houses and had entered into a business partnership with Samuel Cox.
Samuel George Cox - Photographic Artist in Brighton It appears that Samuel George Cox had set himself up as a "Photographic Artist" in Brighton in 1856 or 1857. In August 1857, when Miss Elizabeth Burnell joined Samuel Cox at his shop in St George's Road, Brighton, the couple entered into a business partnership, forming the firm of Cox & Burnell. During the Summer of 1857, Samuel Cox and his mistress Elizabeth Burnell, established a cigar and tobacco store at 9c St George's Road, Brighton. Attached to Cox & Burnell's tobacconist business in St George's Road was a "Photographic Glasshouse" where customers could have their portraits taken at a very reasonable cost. An advertisement for "Cox & Burnell's Cigar and Tobacco Depot and Photographic Glasshouse" appeared in the 1858 edition of F. R. Melville and Co.'s Directory & Gazetteer of Sussex. Published in September 1858, the advertisement in Melville's Directory informed the public that photographic portraits "were taken in all weathers" at Cox & Burnell's "Photographic Glasshouse"; prices for each portrait ranging from 1 shilling to 21 shillings.Up until 1852, William Constable (1783-1861), the proprietor of the Photographic Institution, (Brighton's first daguerreotype portrait studio, which opened in November 1841) held a virtual monopoly in the production of photographic likenesses in the town. After the patent rights on daguerreotype portraiture came to an end in August 1853 and with the introduction of Frederick Scott Archer's "wet collodion" photographic process in the early 1850s, there was a rapid increase in the number of photographic portrait studios in Brighton. In 1851 there was only one photographic portrait studio in Brighton (William Constable's Photographic Institution at 57 Marine Parade, Brighton). By the end of 1853, there were about six places in Brighton where a photographic likeness could be made. By the time Melville and Co.'s Directory & Gazetteer of Sussex was issued in September 1858, the number of photographic portrait studios had risen to 16.Samuel George Cox might have begun his career as a "Photographic Artist" as early as 1856 and there is evidence that he had opened his "Photographic Glasshouse", in partnership with Miss Elizabeth Burnell, during the Summer of 1857. Burnell & Cox were based at 9c St George's Road, Brighton for about a year. By the time Folthorp's General Directory for Brighton, Hove & Cliftonville was published in February 1859, Samuel Cox and Elizabeth "Bessie" Burnell had moved their tobacconists shop to 40 1/2 North Street, Brighton. There must have been a photographic studio still attached to the cigar and tobacco store because Samuel Cox is recorded as a professional photographer at 40 1/2 North Street, Brighton in the listing of "Photographic and Talbotype Artists" featured in Robert Folthorp's Trade Directory of 1859. It appears that Samuel Cox eventually left his wife Mary to cohabit with Elizabeth Dorrell Burnell. (The couple were not free to marry. According to other sources of information, Mrs Mary Cox, Samuel Cox's legally wed wife, did not die until 1900). During the 2nd Quarter of 1860, Elizabeth Burnell gave birth to a baby boy named George Dorrell Burnell. The father of the child was Elizabeth's lover, Samuel George Cox. When Elizabeth Burnell registered her son's birth she was living at No. 2 St. George's Street (since re-named Pelham Street), a street of houses at the foot of Trafalgar Street.It seems that by 1859, Samuel George Cox and Elizabeth Dorrell Burnell were living as man and wife (possibly in St. George's Street) and running a tobacconists business at 401/2 North Street, Brighton under the name of "Cox & Burnell". (In later documents, Elizabeth and Samuel Cox claimed that they had married in Brighton in 1858, yet there is no evidence to show that this was the case). In 1860, Samuel George Cox sold his photographic studio to the William Lane (1818-1889), a Brighton photographer who had been taking portraits on glass since 1852.Before the end of 1860, Samuel George Cox and Elizabeth Dorothy Dorrell Burnell decided to leave England and set sail for Australia where they hoped to start a new life with their baby son George.
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The Type of Photographic Portraits which could be obtained at Cox & Burnell's 'Photographic Glasshouse' in St George's Road, Brighton
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Samuel George Cox and "Mrs Bessie Cox" (Elizabeth Burnell) in Australia Towards the end of 1860, Samuel George Cox and Elizabeth Burnell decided to emigrate to Australia to start a new life. In January 1861, Samuel Cox and Elizabeth Burnell (travelling under the name of 'Mrs Elizabeth Cox') sailed to Melbourne on board the "Prince of Wales". Accompanying the couple on their long journey to Australia was their young son George Dorrell Burnell (recorded as "George Cox" on the Unassisted Passenger List to Australia). Samuel George Cox and Elizabeth Burnell, together with one year old George, arrived in Melbourne, Australia in August 1861. Over the next five years, "Mrs Elizabeth ('Bessie') Cox" gave birth to four more children - Albert (born 1861), Agnes (born 1862), Arthur (born 1864) and Ada Cox (born 1865). Three of these children, Albert, Agnes and Ada, died in infancy. Samuel George Cox and his family eventually settled in the Sandhurst district of Melbourne. Samuel George Cox attempted to continue his career as a professional photographer in Australia, but apparently with little success. On Friday, 13th October 1865, the Melbourne Argus reported the insolvency of "Samuel George Cox, photographic artist and ticket writer of Sandhurst". The reason for Samuel Cox's insolvency was given as "sickness in family and want of employment". The Argus newspaper reported that the insolvent had "debts totalling 120 pounds and assets totalling two pounds". Around 1866, Samuel Cox, Bessie and their surviving children moved on to the Australian gold-mining town of Ballarat, 68 miles north-west of Melbourne. Bessie gave birth to her son Samuel Vaughton Cox on 11th March 1867. Interestingly, Samuel George Cox, who had previously worked as a photographic artist and ticket writer in Australia, gave his occupation as "Artist" when he registered the birth of Samuel junior.
By 1869, Samuel George Cox and his family were living at Surrey Hills, Victoria. A baby girl, Mary Ann Dorothy Cox, was born in Surrey Hills in 1869, shortly before the family set off for Sydney in New South Wales. "Mrs Bessie Cox" gave birth to two more children during her residency in Sydney. A son named John Vernon Cox was born in Sydney in 1871. In July 1874, "Mrs Bessie Cox" gave birth to the last of her nine children, a daughter named Eliza Sarah Cox. In Sydney, Samuel George Cox found work as a "Ticket Writer" ( Samuel Cox had worked as a "Ticket Writer" in Brighton some twenty years earlier). Successive editions of John Sands' Sydney Street Directory published between 1871 and 1875, record Samuel George Cox as a "Ticket Writer" residing in Sydney. Other documents indicate that, in his final years, Samuel George Cox was earning his living as an "ornamental writer" and, possibly, also as a sign painter. It appears that Samuel Cox, who had previously worked as a photographic artist, had some artistic talent. Written records found in Australia describe Cox as both a "painter" and an "artist".
Samuel George Cox found it difficult to support his family from his income as an "ornamental writer" and there is evidence that he sought consolation by drinking heavily. Suffering from an addiction to alcohol, Samuel Cox was admitted to Sydney's Infirmary on 17th April 1876. Samuel George Cox died in the Sydney Infirmary from "Alcoholism and Paralysis" on 21st April 1876 at the age of 52. Tragedy struck the family again 4 months later when Samuel Cox's youngest daughter, Eliza Sarah Cox, described as the "child of Mrs Bessie Cox", died on 28th August 1876, aged only two years and one month. After the death of her husband, Mrs Bessie Cox (Elizabeth Burnell) was left destitute. Friends and neighbours came to Bessie's aid and a fund was organised and co-ordinated by the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, who invited "contributions in aid of Mrs Bessie Cox", described by the editor as "a poor widow" in "destitute circumstances". In the space of four months, Bessie Cox had lost her husband and buried her youngest child, a two year old girl. These tragic circumstances attracted public attention to Bessie's plight and money was raised for the support of "Mrs Cox" and her four young children. On 12th September 1876, the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald advised his readers that if "a sufficient amount be subscribed" in aid of Mrs Bessie Cox, the money would be used to pay for "the passage of herself and children" back to England. |
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"Mrs Bessie Cox" (Elizabeth Burnell) and her Children Return to England
Mrs Bessie Cox (Elizabeth Burnell) arrived at Gravesend, England,
aboard the John Duthie at the end of February 1877. She
had made the journey from Sydney, Australia, to London, accompanied by four of her surviving
children -
Arthur Edwin
Burnell Cox (aged 14),
Samuel Vaughton Cox (aged 11), Mary Ann Cox (aged
9) and John Vernon Cox (aged 7). Bessie chose to return to Bedford,
the home town of her late husband, possibly hoping that Samuel Cox's family
might be able to provide support for her and her children. When the census was taken on 3rd April 1881, Mrs Bessie Cox and three of her children were in the care of the Bedford Union Workhouse in Bedford St Peter. On the census return, Bessie Cox gives her occupation as "Needlewoman", the enumerator describing her as a 40 year old widow. (Born in 1832, Elizabeth Burnell would have been 48 years of age when the census return was completed). Bessie's three youngest children, Samuel Vaughton Cox (aged 14), Mary Ann Cox (aged 12) and John Vernon Cox (aged 10) were living alongside their mother at the Bedford Union Workhouse in 1881. At the time of the 1881 census, Arthur Edwin Burnell Cox, Bessie's teenage son, was living and working in London, but his family's experiences in the workhouse must have affected him deeply. While serving as a soldier in India during the 1890s, Corporal Arthur Cox wrote out by hand the lengthy ballad "Christmas Day in the Workhouse", which had been published in 1879 by the journalist George Robert Sims (1847-1922). Sometime before April 1881, Arthur Edwin Cox (a teenager and the eldest of Bessie's four children living in England) had moved to London where he had found work as a porter at a coffee house in the St Pancras district of the city. The 1881 census records Arthur Cox an employee at Francis Neep's Coffee House in London's Euston Road. On the census return, Arthur E. Cox gives his place of birth as "Sidney (sic), Australia", the census enumerator recording "Arthur Edward (sic) Cox" as an 18 year old "Porter" at the "Coffee House" at 100 Euston Road, London. In 1883, nineteen year old Arthur Edwin Burnell Cox enlisted with the 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment. In 1885, Arthur E. Cox's battalion was sent to Bellary in India. In 1889, the 2nd Battalion was posted to Secunderabad in the Madras region of India. It was while serving with his regiment in Secunderabad that Arthur Edwin Cox met Ethel Louise May Mendez (born 1872), the daughter of Robert Mendez. On 20th August 1890, Arthur Edwin Cox married Ethel Louise Mendez in the Indian city of Secunderabad. Arthur Edwin Cox and his wife settled in Bengal, where their first child, a son named Arthur Vernon Cox was born on 2nd January 1892. [ Arthur Vernon Vorton (Vaughton) Cox was baptised in Ranikhet, Bengal, India, on 21st February 1892 ]. Arthur and Ethel Cox were still living in Bengal, India, when their second son, George Samuel Cox, was born on 18th October 1895.( George Samuel Cox was baptised at Fort William, Bengal, India, on 6th December 1895). Arthur Edwin Burnell Cox died on 3rd December 1918 at the age of 54. Arthur Cox's youngest son, Samuel George Cox, predeceased his father. Rifleman George Samuel Cox of the 4th Battalion Rifle Brigade was killed during the First World War at Ypres, Belgium, on 19th March 1915, aged 20.We have more detailed information about the life of another of Bessie Cox's sons, Samuel Vaughton Cox (1867-1932). At the age of 14, Samuel Vaughton Cox was apprenticed to a fisherman in the seaport of Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire. In his early twenties, Samuel V. Cox married a young domestic servant named Alice Adelaide Hobday (born 1867, Grimsby, Lincs.). By 1911, Samuel Vaughton Cox was living at Clee, near Cleethorpes, with his wife Alice and their five surviving children. Samuel Vaughton Cox became the skipper of a Grimsby fishing trawler and later, during the First World War, provided distinguished service as the Chief Skipper of the Unitia, a fishing trawler which had been converted into a minesweeper. [ See the panel below for a brief account of the life of Samuel Vaughton Cox, written by his great grand-daughter Lesley Line ].John Vernon Cox (born 1871, Sydney Australia), the youngest son of Elizabeth and Samuel George Cox, was employed as a waiter at the Union Club in Newcastle-upon-Tyne when the 1891 census was taken. John Vernon Cox later moved to the West Riding of Yorkshire. John Vernon Cox married Ann Sissons (born c1867) in the West Riding of Yorkshire district of Hunslet in 1893. John V. Cox's wife, Ann, gave birth to a son, Arthur Vernon Cox in 1894, but she died the following year, aged 28. [ The death of Ann Cox was registered in the district of Hunslet during the 1st Quarter of 1895 ]. John Vernon Cox married for a second time in 1897. John Vernon Cox married Kate Burton (born 1876, Lincolnshire) in the Lincolnshire district of Horncastle during the 3rd Quarter of 1897. A year or so later John Vernon Cox, his wife Kate and his son Arthur moved south. A second son, Harold Reginald Cox was born in Saint Albans, Hertfordshire in 1898. John Vernon Cox and his family then settled in the suburbs of West London. When Sydney Edmund Cox was born in 1900, John Vernon Cox and his family were residing in Brentford, Middlesex. By 1909, John and Kate Cox has set up home in the district of Uxbridge, where another son, John Edward Cox was born in 1909. The census taken on 2nd April 1911 recorded John Vernon Cox and his family at No.1 King's Parade, Southall, Middlesex. On the census return, John Vernon Cox is described as a an "Oilman", aged 40, while his eldest son, seventeen year old Arthur Vernon Cox, is entered as an "Oilman's Assistant". John Vernon Cox died in Brentford, Middlesex, in 1937, aged 66. The last years of "Mrs Elizabeth 'Bessie' Cox" (Elizabeth Dorothy Burnell) are not so well documented. Born in 1832 under the name of Elizabeth Dorothy Dorrell (Dorrill) Burnell, but known for most of her adult life as "Mrs Elizabeth 'Bessie' Cox", Elizabeth is difficult to track down in the available primary sources. As one would expect, there were hundreds of women who went under the name of Elizabeth Cox, at least a dozen of whom were living in Bedfordshire during this period. A memorial card has recently come to light which indicates that Bessie Cox died sometime during the early 1890s. The card states that Bessie Cox died on "February 18th, 189 -, aged 53 years". Elizabeth Dorothy Burnell was born on 23rd September 1832, so a death at the age of 53 would indicate that she passed away in 1884. On her return to England, perhaps in an attempt to disguise her true identity, Bessie Cox informed the authorities that she was nearly ten years younger than she actually was. She told the census enumerator on 3rd April 1881, that she was 40 years of age, when in fact her true age was 48. If Bessie Cox perpetuated the fiction that she was born around 1840, an age at death of 53 would suggest that she died in 1892**. [See the Postscript on the Death of Mrs Bessie Cox/ Elizabeth Burnell below]. ** Mrs Bessie Cox/ Elizabeth Burnell died at the Three Counties Asylum at Stotfold Three Counties Asylum on 18th February 1892 at the age of 59. [See the Postscript on the Death of Mrs Bessie Cox/ Elizabeth Burnell below]. |
Handwritten Poem & Memorial Card : Courtesy of Jennifer Griffiths |
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The Children of Samuel George Cox and Elizabeth Dorothy Burnell |
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1. |
George Dorrell Burnell (COX) | Born 5th March 1860, Brighton, Sussex, England | Arrived in Australia with parents in 1861. George was still alive in 1867, but did not return to England with mother and siblings in 1878. |
2. |
Albert Edward Hamilton COX | Born 1861, Emerald Hill, Victoria, Australia | Died 1861, aged 1 month, in Victoria, Australia. |
3. |
Agnes Bessie COX | Born 1862, Carlton, Victoria, Australia | Died 1863, aged 6 months, in Victoria, Australia |
4. |
Arthur Edwin Burnell COX | Born 1864, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia | Served with the British Army in India. Married Ethel Louise May Mendez in India in 1890. Fathered two sons Arthur Vernon Cox (born 1892) and George Samuel Cox (born 1895). Arthur Edwin Cox died 3rd December 1918, aged 54. |
5. |
Ada Ellen Osborne COX | Born 1865, Sandhurst, Sandridge, Victoria, Australia | Died 1866, aged 8 months, in Victoria, Australia |
6. |
Samuel Vaughton COX | Born 11th March 1867, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia | Samuel Vaughton Cox married Alice Adelaide Hobday in 1889. (This union produced 9 children, but only five survived infancy - Samuel (born 1890), Alice (born 1895), Lilian (born 1899), Florence Adelaide (born 1901) and George Arthur Cox (born 1907). |
7. |
Mary Ann Dorothy COX | Born 1869, Surrey Hills, Victoria, Australia | Returned to England in 1878 with mother and siblings. In 1881, inmate of Bedford Union Workhouse alongside mother and brothers Samuel and John. |
8. |
John Vernon COX | Born 1871, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | John Vernon Cox was twice married. In 1893, John V. Cox married Ann Sissons. (This union produced one son - Arthur Vernon Cox, born 1894). After the death of his first wife, John V. Cox married Kate Burton (marriage registered in Horncastle in 1897). John's second marriage produced 3 sons - Harold Reginald Cox (born 1898), Sydney Edmund Cox (born 1900) and John Edward Cox (born 1909). John Vernon Cox died in Brentford, Middlesex, in 1937, aged 66. |
9. |
Eliza Sarah COX | Born 1874, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | Died on 28th August 1876, aged two years and one month, in Waterloo, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
An Account of the Life of Samuel Vaughton Cox (1867-1932) - the son of Samuel George Cox and Elizabeth Burnell - by Lesley Line |
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Samuel Vaughton Cox was born on 11th March 1867 in the gold-mining town of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. His mother, Elizabeth had already given birth to 5 children, 3 of whom died in infancy. The family moved to the Australian city of Sydney where Elizabeth had 3 more children. Unfortunately, the last child, Eliza Sarah Cox, died when she was only 2 years of age. After the death of his father Samuel George Cox in Sydney in 1876, Samuel Vaughton Cox returned to England in 1878 with his mother Bessie (Elizabeth) and two of his siblings, Mary Ann Cox and John Vernon Cox. On their return to England, Bessie Cox and her three children entered the Bedford Union Workhouse. Bessie had to apply for payment of Samuel's school fees. (A sum of two pence a week was granted). In 1881, a Mr J. Haylock from Great Grimsby arrived at Bedford Union Workhouse and took fourteen year old Samuel Vaughton Cox as a fisherman's apprentice. According to the Grimsby Archives, Samuel’s conduct for 2 years was very good, until he ran away in 1883, because, as Sam later claimed, the ship leaked. Sam was admonished for his absence, but then went on to be an excellent apprentice. By 1888, Samuel V. Cox was skipper of his own fishing trawler. Towards the end of 1889, Samuel Vaughton Cox married Alice Adelaide Hobday (born 1867, Grimsby). The wedding took place 6 weeks prior to their first son being born. The couple's first child, Samuel V. Cox junior, was born early in 1890. [ The birth of Samuel Vorton (Vaughton) Cox was registered in the Lincolnshire district of Caistor during the First Quarter of 1890 ]. Samuel and Alice Cox went on to produce eight more children, but only five of the nine children survived infancy - Samuel (born 1890), Alice (born 1895), Lilian (born 1899), Florence Adelaide (born 1901) and George Arthur Cox (born 1907). Sadly, Samuel's youngest son, George Arthur Cox was to die young. In 1943, during a German air raid on Grimsby and Cleethorpes, George Cox, then aged 35, was killed by a butterfly bomb.
Samuel V. Cox continued his career as a fisherman until the outbreak of the First World War. Samuel Cox entered the Royal Navy Reserve in 1914, commanding the Unitia, the Admiralty-hired Trawler No. 699 . This vessel was based at Lowestoft and formed part of the Auxiliary Patrol. In 1916, Chief Skipper Samuel V. Cox was awarded the Italian Bronze Medal for Military Valour, which was presented to him by His Majesty Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy. Samuel Cox's naval records show that he had distinguished himself by destroying 60 German mines at sea.Samuel Vaughton Cox was demobilised in 1919 and returned to Grimsby, where he opened a "High Class Confectionery and Grocer's Shop". Samuel Vaughton Cox died in Grimsby in 1932 at the age of 65. Mrs Alice Cox, Samuel's widow, died in Cleethorpes in 1939 at the age of 72. Samuel Vaughton Cox is buried with his wife Alice in Grimsby Cemetery. |
Photographs Above: Courtesy of Lesley Line [ABOVE] Samuel V. Cox listed as a recipient of the Bronze Medal for Military Valour, conferred by Victor Emmanuel III, the King of Italy, to Chief Skipper Cox in recognition of his bravery in destroying 60 German mines during the First World War. ( Supplement to the London Gazette, 16th March 1918) |
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |
I am indebted to Lesley Line for providing information on the lives of Samuel George Cox and Elizabeth Burnell (aka Mrs Bessie Cox) after they emigrated to Australia in 1861. Lesley Line is the great, great grand-daughter of Samuel George Cox and Elizabeth Burnell. Lesley's great grandfather was Samuel Vaughton Cox (born 1867, Ballarat, Australia), the son of Samuel George Cox and Elizabeth Burnell. Lesley's research into the family history of Samuel George Cox and Elizabeth Burnell has proved to be invaluable in piecing together their story. I am also very grateful to Marcel Safier of Australia for providing very useful additional information about Samuel George Cox and Elizabeth Burnell and their offspring. Family history details have also been supplied by Joe Tilt and Mrs Jennifer Griffiths (formerly Cox) a descendant of Arthur Edwin Cox (1864-1918), a son of Samuel George Cox and Elizabeth Burnell. |
J. T. Cox - Photographic Artist active in Brighton between 1868 and 1870 |
J.
T. Cox is
recorded as a photographic artist at 401/2
(40A) North Street, Brighton in local trade directories issued
between 1868 and 1870.
The building at No. 40 North Street, Brighton had
been used as a photographic portrait studio since Samuel George Cox
(1824-1876) had added a photographic establishment to his tobacco store
in 1859. When Samuel George Cox emigrated to Australia in 1861, the
photographic studio at
401/2
(40A) North Street, Brighton was acquired by William Lane
(1818-1889), an experienced photographer who had been operating a portrait
studio at 213 Western Road, Brighton since 1853.
The premises at
401/2
(40A) North Street, Brighton was
in continuous use as a photographic
portrait studio for nearly 50 years. (See table below). Because
Samuel George Cox
had established the photographic portrait studio at
401/2
(40A) North Street, Brighton in 1859, I had jumped to the
conclusion that the photographer
J.
T. Cox,
who operated a studio in the same building sometime between 1868 and 1870, was a
relative of the original owner Samuel George Cox. Circumstantial
evidence, however, suggests that the two photographers' identical surname of
"Cox" was just a coincidence. It now seems more likely that the mysterious "J.
T. Cox" was John Thomas Cox, a professional photographer from Kent.
John Thomas Cox was born in
Bexley, Kent, during the early months of 1846. [The birth of
John Thomas
Cox was registered in the Kent district of Dartford during the First Quarter
of 1846 ].
John Thomas Cox was the
son of Elizabeth and Thomas Cox and was baptised in the Kent village of
Bexley on 8th February 1846.
By 1881, John Thomas Cox was living in North London and working as
a photographer. The 1881 census records John Thomas Cox and his
thirty-two year old wife Annie at 107 Shepherdess Walk, near City
Road, Islington, North London. On the 1881 census return, John Thomas
Cox is described as a thirty-five year old "Photographer".
In 1887, John Thomas Cox married for a second time. John Cox's new wife
appears to have been Emma Aulert (born 1855, Shoreditch, London). When
the 1891 census was taken,
John Thomas Cox was recorded as a
thirty-five year old "Photographer" living at 62 Hyde Road,
Hoxton, North London.
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Carte-de-visite Portraits by J. Cox of 40A North Street, Brighton |
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[ABOVE] A vignette portrait of a young man, a carte-de-visite photograph produced by J. Cox of 40a North Street, Brighton (c1870) | [ABOVE] The trade plate of photographer J. Cox of 40a North Street, Brighton, printed on the reverse of a carte-de-visite photograph (c1869). | [ABOVE] A full-length portrait of a young woman, a carte-de-visite photograph produced by J. Cox of 40a North Street, Brighton (c1869) |
PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS BASED AT 40 NORTH STREET, BRIGHTON (1859-1908) | ||
PROPRIETOR |
STUDIO ADDRESS |
DATES ACTIVE |
Samuel George COX |
401/2 (40A) North Street, Brighton |
1859-1860 |
William LANE |
401/2 (40A) North Street, Brighton |
1861-1865 |
Frederick J. TAYLOR | 401/2 (40A) North Street, Brighton |
1866-1867 |
Thomas BOXELL | 40 North Street, Brighton |
1867-1869 |
J. T. COX | 401/2 (40A) North Street, Brighton |
1869-1870 |
Isaac Shaw LENNOX | 401/2 (40A) North Street, Brighton |
1871-1872 |
William FELDWICKE | 40A North Street, Brighton |
1873-1903 |
( LASCELLES ) | 40A North Street, Brighton |
( 1892 ) |
Albert KEMBER | 40A North Street, Brighton |
1905 |
Walter LITTLEWOOD | 40A North Street, Brighton |
1905-1907 |
AMERICAN PHOTO STUDIO | 40A North Street, Brighton |
1908 |
Percy Henry HILSON | 40A North Street, Brighton |
1908 |