Francis Ignatius Fox OBE (1874 - 1960)

Born 10 Aug 1874 in Kensington, South Australia (Australia)

Husband of Helena Ada (Clint) Fox — married 13 Jun 1894 in Sydney, New South Wales (Australia)

Died 4 Mar 1960 at age 85 in Chichester, Sussex, England, United Kingdom

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Biography

Frank Fox OBE is Notable.

Sir Frank Fox was an Australian-born journalist, soldier, war correspondent, military historian, author, editor and campaigner.

Frank Fox OBE was born in the Colony of South Australia (1836-1900)

Francis 'Frank' Ignatius Fox was born on 10th August 1874 in Kensington, South Australia (Australia). He was the second son of Charles Fox, journalist and editor, and Mary Ann Toole. ^[1] The family moved to Hobart, Tasmania, in 1883, when his father became editor of the Tasmanian Mail. There, Frank was educated at Christ College. ^[2]

Frank was appointed editor of The Australian Workman in 1893. ^[2]

Frank married Helena Clint on 13th June 1894 with Congregational forms in Sydney, New South Wales. ^[3] The couple had two daughters and a son:

1. Dorothy (1896-)
2. Marie (1899-)
3. Francis A (1902-)

In 1895 he was appointed editor of the (Bathurst) National Advocate, during which time he championed federation. Back in Sydney, in 1898 he could not pay debts incurred by the illness of his wife and himself; he was released from bankruptcy in July 1900. Frank next joined The Age, where he served as chief of their reporting staff. He moved to the Sydney Bulletin in 1901, where he became close friends with A B 'Banjo' Paterson and Norman Lindsay. The following year, as 'Frank Renar', Frank published Bushman and Buccaneer, a memoir of Harry 'the Breaker' Morant, the Australian officer executed by the British in the Second Boer War. ^[2]

Frank was commissioned in the Commonwealth Military Force's Australian Field Artillery (Militia) on 1st September 1905 and was an early member of the Australian National Defence League. ^[2]

He published a volume of political essays, From the Old Dog, in 1908. ^[2]

Frank Fox OBE migrated from Australia to England.

Moving to England, Frank was appointed an assistant editor for the Morning Post in December 1909 and was promoted to news editor the following year. He published Ramparts of Empire (1910) about the navy, Australia (1910), The British Empire (1911), Problems of the Pacific (1912) and several travel books. In 1912 the Morning Post sent Frank to the Balkans, where he accompanied the Bulgarian Army through Turkey and covered the Balkan peace conference. ^[2]

Frank Fox OBE is a Military Veteran.
Served in the British Army 1914-1919
Royal Field Artillery; MI7; Quartermaster General's branch

Sir Frank Fox OBE was wounded at the Somme during The Great War.

Motivated by the atrocities he witnessed to the civilian population in Belgium whilst war correspondent for the Morning Post he was commissioned as an officer in the Royal Field Artillery on 13th December 1914, over age at 41, and served in France. He was twice wounded in the Battle of the Somme. In 1917-18 he was at the War Office working for Mi7, where he published The Battle of the Ridges and The British Army at War, designed to educate the American public about the British war effort. He then served as Staff Captain at the Quartermaster General's branch, General Headquarters, in France, and wrote a contemporary account of life there. Demobilised in January 1919 with the rank of Major, Frank had been Mentioned in Despatches, and appointed both Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and to the Belgian Order of the Crown. For his war service he was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

Following the war, he continued to write profusely, including The History of the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars Yeomanry 1898-1922: The Great Cavalry Campaign in Palestine (1923), The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in the World War (1928), The Royal House of Windsor 1837-1937 (1937) and The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in the Second World War, 1939–45 (1951); as well as two novels, In 1923 he published a novel, Beneath an Ardent Sun (1923), with an Australian background, and The Mastery of the Pacific (1928). ^[2]

In 1926 Frank was created Knight Bachelor for his services to literature.

He organised the British Empire Cancer Campaign in northern England in 1927-29 and the Empire Rheumatism Council in 1936-46. ^[2]

Sir Frank and Lady Fox visited Australia and New Zealand in 1935. ^[2]

The couple retired to Broom Cottage, West Wittering, near Chichester, Sussex. ^[2] Aged 85 years and having been widowed for two years, ^[4] he passed away on 4th March 1960 in hospital in Chichester. ^[5]

Former British Conservative Member of Parliament Doctor Charles Goodson-Wickes is Frank's great-grandson and literary executor.

Sources

1. ↑ South Australian Birth Index #139/9 1874
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9} Rutledge, Martha. 'Fox, Sir Frank Ignatius (1874–1960)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1981; accessed online 18 Dec 2023
3. ↑ New South Wales Marriage Index #856/1894; listed as Frank J, but then 'J' closely resembles 'I'
4. ↑ UK FreeBMD Death Index Mar qtr 1958, vol 5h, page 701
5. ↑ UK FreeBMD Death Index Mar qtr 1960, vol 5h, page 633

See also

• Rutledge, Martha. 'Fox, Sir Frank Ignatius (1874–1960)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1981; accessed online 18 Dec 2023.
• Wikipedia: 'Frank Fox'; accessed 18 Dec 2023.