John Charles Cox

John Charles Cox (1843 – 23 February 1919; published under the name J. Charles Cox) was an English cleric, activist and local historian. ^[1]

Life

He was born in Parwich, Derbyshire, the son of Edward Cox, vicar of Luccombe, Somerset, and was educated at Repton School. ^[2] He studied at The Queen's College, Oxford, for two years from 1862, but left without graduating, becoming a partner in the Wingerworth Coal Company, Derbyshire. He remained with the company to 1885, but was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1881. ^{[1] [3]}

As rector of Barton-le-Street from 1886, and of Holdenby from 1893, Cox made a reputation as "perhaps one of the most influential English local historians of the nineteenth century", ^[4] an area he had written on from the 1870s.

From 1890 until approximately 1895, Cox was editor of the monthly antiquarian magazine, The Antiquary. From 1900 he was in Sydenham, and concentrated on writing. One of his discoveries was Rotha Mary Clay who was a self-taught historian. ^[5]

Cox was a political activist who "always focused on the need to fight for the socio-economic and political rights of the labouring poor". ^[6]

He died on 23 February 1919. ^[1]

List of selected publications

• The Rise of the Farm Labourer: A Series of Articles ... Illustrative of Certain Political Aspects of the Agricultural Labour Movement (1874) ^[7] with Henry Fisher Cox
• Notes on the Churches of Derbyshire, 4 vols., 1877–9
• How to Write the History of a Parish (1879; 5th ed., 1909) ^{[8] [9]}
• The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England (Joseph Strutt, 1801), editor, 1903 ^[10]
• The Royal Forests of England (1905) ^[11]
• English Church Furniture (1908), with Alfred Harvey ^[12]
• The Parish Registers of England (1910) ^[13]
• The Sanctuaries and Sanctuary Seekers of Medieval England (1911) ^[14]
• The English Parish Church (1914) ^[15]
• Lincolnshire (1916) ^[16]
• The Parish Churches of England; edited with additional chapters by Charles Bradley Ford. London: B. T. Batsford, 1935 (followed by later editions)

Bibliography

• Abbot, Maurice (Spring 2000). "A short life of J. Charles Cox" (PDF). Derbyshire Miscellany. 15 (5): 127–133.

References

1. Nurse, Bernard. "Cox, John Charles". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/41055.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
2. Elizabeth T. Hurren (18 June 2015). Protesting about Pauperism: Poverty, Politics and Poor Relief in Late-Victorian England, 1870-1900. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. p. 227. ISBN   978-0-86193-329-7.
3. Abbot 2000.
4. Nick Poyntz, J. Charles Cox, Mercurius Politicus. Retrieved on 6 May 2017.
5. Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (23 September 2004). "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. ref:odnb/61734. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/61734 . Retrieved 27 February 2023.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
6. "A Radical Historian's Pursuit of Rural History: The Political Career and Contribution of Reverend Dr. John Charles Cox, c. 1844 to 1919", Elizabeth T. Hurren, Rural History, Volume 19, Issue 1, April 2008, pp. 81-103. Retrieved on 6 May 2016.
7. Cox, John Charles; Cox, Henry F. (1874). The Rise of the Farm Labourer: a Series of Articles ... Illustrative of Certain Political Aspects of the Agricultural Labour Movement.
8. John Charles Cox (1879). How to Write the History of a Parish. Bemrose & Sons.
9. Rev. J. Charles Cox, How to Write the History of a Parish: An Outline Guide to Topographical Records, Manuscripts, and Books, London: George Allen & Sons, 1909, 5th edition, revised. Retrieved on 6 May 2017.
10. Joseph Strutt (1801). The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England: From the Earliest Period, Including the Rural and Domestic Recreations, May Games, Mummeries, Pageants, Processions and Pompous Spectacles. Methuen & Company.
11. J Charles Cox (10 September 2010). The Royal Forests of England (1905). Kessinger Publishing. ISBN   978-1-164-10460-5.
12. John Charles Cox; Alfred Harvey (1908). English Church Furniture. Methuen.
13. J. Charles Cox (1910). The Parish Registers of England. Methuen.
14. John Charles Cox (1911). The Sanctuaries and Sanctuary Seekers of Mediaeval England. G. Allen & sons.
15. J Charles Cox (1914). The English Parish Church. B. T. Batsford.
16. J. Charles Cox (1916), Lincolnshire, Methuen & Co. Ltd. Retrieved 10 January 2019