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James Charles Cox (21 July 1834 – 29 September 1912) was an Australian physician and conchologist.
James Charles Cox | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Dr. Cox, c. 1910 | |
| Born | 21 July 1834 |
| Died | 29 September 1912 (aged 78) |
| Education | The King's School |
| Alma mater | University of Edinburgh |
| Spouses | Margaret Wharton MacClennan
(m. 1858; died 1876)Mary Frances Benson
(m. 1878; died 1902)Emma Sarah Gibbes
(m. 1903) |
| Parent(s) | Edward Cox Jane Maria Brooks |
| Relatives | Edward King Cox (brother) William Cox (grandfather) Alfred Cox (uncle) |
Cox was born at Mulgoa, southwest of Sydney.[1] He was a son of Jane Maria (née Brooks) Cox and Edward Cox of Fernhill in Mulgoa.[2] Among his siblings was Edward King Cox, who was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council, and Richard William Cox, a prominent sheep grazer.[3] His father was a non-elective member of the New South Wales Legislative Council.[4]
His paternal grandparents were Rebecca (née Upjohn) Cox and William Cox,[2] an English soldier and pioneer.[5] His uncle was Alfred Cox, a large landowner and member of the New Zealand House of Representatives.[6]
As a child, he played with Aboriginal children and learned from them about native birds and animals. He was educated at the local parish school and the King's School, Parramatta. He was apprenticed to be a physician for three years and learned dispensing at the Sydney Infirmary, acted as a clinical clerk, assisted at post mortems and was present at one of the first operations using chloroform in 1852.[1]
He became an assistant to Professor John Smith, the foundation professor of chemistry and experimental physics at the University of Sydney at its original site near Hyde Park, now occupied by Sydney Grammar School and established what became the Sydney Museum next door. He earned an M.D. in 1857 presenting the thesis "On the icterus neonatorum"[7] and F.R.C.S. in 1858 at the University of Edinburgh. He was registered as a medical practitioner in New South Wales in February 1859 and developed a lucrative private practice in Sydney.[1]
Cox retained an interest in nature all his life. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales (then the Philosophical Society) in 1859. He was first president of the New South Wales Board of Fisheries and first secretary of the Entomological Society (later the Linnean Society of New South Wales), both in 1862. He was elected a fellow of the Linnean Society of London in 1868. He was a trustee of the Sydney Museum and left it his collection of land shells. His wrote extensively in the journals of these societies on the conchology of Australia and Melanesia.[1]
He retained a lifelong interest in history, being a foundation member of the Australian Historical Society in 1901 and the first President of the Australasian Pioneers Society in 1910.[8] He was also a member of the Australian Club for over 50 years and was known for his after-dinner speeches on the early days of Sydney.[1]
He married Margaret Wharton MacClennan (c. 1840–1876), the third daughter of John MacClennan, in September 1858. They eventually had four sons and six daughters, including:[2]
After the death of Cox's first wife in 1876, he married Mary Frances Benson (1850–1902), a daughter of Frances Maria Benson and William Benson, in 1878.[2] Mary died in 1902 and he married Emma Sarah Gibbes (1869–1955), the widow of William Charles Valentine Gibbes, at St. Philips Church in August 1903.[21] Together, they were the parents of one daughter Laurel Lilian Cox (1910-1978).
Cox died on 29 September 1912 in the Sydney suburb of Mosman.[1]
Through his daughter Millicent, he was a grandfather of Lady Muriel Felicia Vere Bertie (d. 1981) who married Henry Liddell-Grainger in 1922, with whom she had several children, including David Liddell-Grainger; after Henry's death, Lady Muriel married Sir Malcolm Barclay-Harvey, the 22nd Governor of South Australia, in 1938.[22]
He was the ancestor to Allaster Edward Cox, Australia's High Commissioner to Brunei Darussalam from 2001 to 2004, who received an audience with Crown Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah.[23]
Cox's publications include:[1]
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