Sidney Thomas Fox was a Rushden school teacher and was one of the original Directors of The Tecnic Shoe Company. He was born in Pelsall, Staffs in 1878 to Richard and Margaret Fox and on 31st July 1906 he married Susan Ellen Bickley at St. Michael's Church, Pelsall. He came to Rushden in 1909 as Headmaster of the National School and was also an active member of St. Mary's Church. He lived at 30 Griffith Street with his wife and son. |
 |
30 Griffith Street
|
|
His census details are shown below:-
1891 Census |
Allens Lane |
Pelsall |
Staffs |
|
|
|
Name |
Surname |
Relation |
Condition |
Age
|
Occupation |
Place of Birth |
Richard |
FOX |
Head |
Married |
40
|
Engine Fitter Iron Foundry |
Coalbrookdale |
Margaret |
FOX |
Wife |
Married |
38
|
|
Brierley Hill Staffs |
Eleanor M. |
FOX |
Daughter |
Single |
13
|
|
Pelsall |
Sidney T. |
FOX |
Son |
Single |
12
|
|
Pelsall |
Walter |
FOX |
Son |
Single |
9
|
|
Pelsall |
Edith C. |
FOX |
Daughter |
Single |
1
|
|
Pelsall |
1901 Census |
13 Delancey Street |
St. Pancras |
London |
|
|
|
Name |
Surname |
Relation |
Condition |
Age
|
Occupation |
Place of Birth |
Sydney T |
FOX |
Boarder |
Single |
22
|
School Teacher |
Pelsall |
Frank R. |
SHEATH |
Boarder |
Single |
22
|
French Polisher |
St. Pancras |
Edwin G. |
SHEATH |
Boarder |
Single |
24
|
Pianoforte Finisher |
Camberwell |
Eliza |
COLEMAN |
Head |
Widow |
38
|
Housekeeper |
Kent |
Minnie E. |
COLEMAN |
Daughter |
Single |
15
|
|
Kent |
John P. W. |
MURRAY |
Boarder |
Single |
18
|
Boy Copyist General |
Scotland |
He was in the Northamptonshire Regiment but was fighting with the Royal Artillery when he was killed in action at Ypres in September 1917. The War Graves Commission show his details as follows:
Date of Death |
21st September 1917 |
Age |
unknown |
Regiment |
Royal Garrison Artillery, 230th Siege Battalion |
Rank |
2nd Lieutenant |
Cemetery |
Birr Cross Roads Cemetery, Ieper, West-Vlanderen, Belgium |
Grave No. |
I. E. 20 |
 |
Birr Cross Roads Cemetery
|
|
Birr Cross Roads Cemetery
Birr Cross Roads Cemetery is located 3 km east of Ieper town centre, on the Meenseweg (N8), connecting Ieper to Menen. The cemetery itself is located 2.5 km along the Meenseweg on the right hand side of the road. The village and the greater part of the commune of Zillebeke were within the Allied lines until taken by the Germans at the end of April 1918. The village was recovered by the II Corps on 8th September 1918. Birr Cross Roads was named by the 1st Leinsters from their depot. The cemetery was begun in August 1917 and used by dressing stations. At the Armistice it contained nine irregular rows of graves, now part of Plot I, but was greatly enlarged when graves were brought in from the surrounding battlefields and from certain smaller cemeteries. There are now 833 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 336 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to nine casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials commemorate 18 casualties buried in Birr Cross Roads Cemetery No. 2 and the Union Street Graveyards, whose graves were destroyed by shell fire, and one Belgian interpreter whose grave cannot now be found. The cemetery was designed by Sir Edward Lutyens. No. of indentified casualties are 498.
|
Taken from the Rushden Echo of Friday 28th September 1917
|
The news of the death in action of Second. Lieut. Sidney T. Fox of the Northamptonshire Regiment which reached Rushden on Wednesday caused a feeling of profound regret. Lieut. Fox, who was for some years the much esteemed Headmaster of the Church of England day school at Rushden in which position he succeeded Mr. W. H. Brown, resided in Griffith Street. Early in the war he enlisted as a private and he soon obtained his stripes. For some time he served in the capacity of recruiting Sergeant, being at one period stationed at Rushden, during the recruiting campaign of Capt. Stocken. A month or so ago he obtained a commission and left Rushden about three weeks since for France. The shock caused throughout the town by the sad news of his death was of the most painful character, for he had so recently been seen walking about the streets of Rushden with his genial smile and his soldierly bearing. Lieut. Fox leaves a widow and one son, to whom the sympathy of the whole town is extended. |
|