Richard and Decima Fox, son Henry and his descendants (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Tuesday, September 06, 2016, 16:21 (3001 days ago) @ Carl

Hi Carl, welcome to this excellent website and friendly forum. I hope you take the time to browse thro the whole website, including it's old maps, photos, newspaper articles etc etc, as this will give you a real flavour of the Forest of Dean area, as well as tracing your family thro the Parish Records etc. (As an aside I also live in the London area, have done since moving from the Forest in the 80s, how I miss it now..).

Re Richard Fox and family, as posted by Slowhands earlier in this thread, here they are in the 1851 Census. I don't think it was mentioned, but as you can see they have FOX neighbours which I assume were related, in my experience FOX isn't a particularly common local surname.

1851 Lane End, West Dean.
Given Name Surname Relationship Age Estimated Birth Year Gender Birth Place

Richard Fox Head 37 1814 Male Coalminer. West Dean, Gloucestershire, England
Deinna Fox Wife 34 1817 Female West Dean, Gloucestershire, England
Richard Fox Son 14 1837 Male Coleminer. West Dean, Gloucestershire, England
Benjamin Fox Son 12 1839 Male Scholar. West Dean, Gloucestershire, England
Henry Fox Son 8 1843 Male Scholar. West Dean, Gloucestershire, England
Jane Fox Daughter 5 1846 Female West Dean, Gloucestershire, England
Harriet Fox Daughter 2 1849 Female West Dean, Gloucestershire, England

William Fox Head 61 1790 Male Labourer. West Dean, Gloucestershire, England
Ann Fox Wife 61 1790 Female West Dean, Gloucestershire, England
William Fox Son 29 1822 Male Labourer. West Dean, Gloucestershire, England

John Fox Head 72 1779 Male Labourer. West Dean, Gloucestershire, England
Rachel Fox Wife 67 1784 Female Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales

As I think you know, Lane End is the very old name for the villages that lay on the roads & tramways leaving Coleford eastwards into the Forest and Speech House. Nowadays they're more commonly known as Broadwell and Coalway. The following webpage gives a detailed history of Coleford and the area.
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol5/pp117-138

The Census page preceding the above page shows it's address as Barnhill, this locality and road-name still exists and nicely places your FOXs in Broadwell rather than Coalway. In fact that Census page includes another FOX household;

1851 Census Barn Hill, West Dean
George Fox Head 38 1813 Male Carpenter journeyman. West Dean, Gloucestershire, England
Carolene Fox Wife 24 1827 Female West Dean, Gloucestershire, England
Matilda Fox Daughter 1 1850 Female West Dean, Gloucestershire, England

Unfortunately this area lies right on the edge of the relevant old Ordnance Survey maps, this one from 1883 shows Broadwell at the top left of the map.
http://maps.nls.uk/view/101453661
(This is the adjoining map to the west, showing Coleford).
http://maps.nls.uk/view/101453631

As you can see Broadwell Lane End is near extensive stone quarries as well as coal mines, I suspect the Foxes described in the census as "labourers" were probably working there, and were not "agricultural labourers" in the usual UK Census sense (indeed this same census page does list one neighbour as an "ag lab", rather than "labourer" as with your Foxes).

This later map from 1918 helpfully includes Broadwell on the same page as Coleford.
http://maps.nls.uk/view/102346004

If you find Broadwell Lane End, look for the lane running across the southern edge of Broadwell connecting Littledean Lane End and Barnhill Coal Pit. On modern Google maps this is called "Foxes Lane"; it MAY perhaps be a link to your ancestor's part of the village.. ?.

1861 Census, Barnhill Lane End, West Dean
Given Name Surname Relationship Age Estimated Birth Year Gender Birth City Birth County Birth Country
Richard Fox Head 47 1814 Male Coalminer. West Dean Gloucestershire England
Desima Fox Wife 41 1820 Female West Dean Gloucestershire England
Benjamin Fox Son 17 1844 Male Coleminer. West Dean Gloucestershire England
Henry Fox Son 15 1846 Male Coleminer. West Dean Gloucestershire England
Jane Fox Daughter 14 1847 Female Scholar. West Dean Gloucestershire England
Harreit Fox Daughter 12 1849 Female West Dean Gloucestershire England
Rhoda Fox Daughter 9 1852 Female Scholar. West Dean Gloucestershire England
Julia Fox Daughter 6 1855 Female Scholar. West Dean Gloucestershire England
Ann Fox Daughter 4 1857 Female West Dean Gloucestershire England
Eliza Fox Daughter 3 1858 Female West Dean Gloucestershire England

William Fox Head 71 1790 Male Coalminer. West Dean Gloucestershire England
Ann Fox Wife 73 1788 Female West Dean Gloucestershire England
William Fox Son 40 1821 Male Mason. West Dean Gloucestershire England

(near neighbour)
Rachel Fox Head 77 1784 Female Pantryer Gloucestershire England

Here's Henry on the next Census, now married, still next-door to family.

1871 Census, Littledean Lane End, West Dean.
Given Name Surname Relationship Age Estimated Birth Year Gender Birth City Birth County Birth Country
George Fox Head 56 1815 Male Lane End Gloucestershire England
Caroline Fox Wife 44 1827 Female Pillowell Gloucestershire England
Elizabeth Fox Daughter 18 1853 Female Lane End Gloucestershire England
Tom Fox Son 17 1854 Male Lane End Gloucestershire England
Richard Fox Son 12 1859 Male Lane End Gloucestershire England
Ellen Fox Daughter 9 1862 Female Lane End Gloucestershire England
George Fox Son 3 1868 Male Lane End Gloucestershire England

Henry Fox Head 25 1846 Male Lane End Gloucestershire England
Clara Fox Wife 19 1852 Female Redbrook Gloucestershire England

Henry's full marriage record to Clara POWELL dated 10 October 1869 can be found within this site's PRs, as I expect you already know.

Carl, I hope this may have been of some help, I don't want to reproduce the whole line as it seems you've already researched it, but if you have ANY specific queries we're all very happy to help.