Francis Fox (civil engineer)

Sir Francis Fox was an English civil engineer, who was responsible for the bridges over the Victoria Falls of the Zambesi and Sydney Harbour, the Mersey Railway Tunnel and the Liverpool Overhead Railway, and extending the London Underground.

Personal life

Born in Derby, England, he was one of three sons of the noted engineer and contractor Sir Charles Fox.
Educated at Highgate School, Brighton College and Tonbridge School,
He married twice, in 1869 to Selena Wright who died in 1900, he then married Agnes Horne in 1901. Fox had a son and three daughters from his first marriage. In 1902, his daughter, Frances Emily married Reverend Walter Weston, the English clergyman and Anglican missionary who helped popularise recreational mountaineering in Japan. She accompanied Weston on many of his expeditions in the Japanese Alps.
He was awarded a Knighthood by the King on 25 July 1912.

Fox entered into business with his father and his brother [Charles Charles Douglas Fox|Douglas Fox|Douglas] in 1857 and in 1860 they formed the partnership of Sir Charles Fox and Sons. Fox was a consultant for the Simplon Tunnel. He was responsible for designing the train shed for the through platforms at which was completed in 1878, and was an engineer for the Great Central Railway, working with his brother Douglas and H.W. Braddock in the construction of that company's London Marylebone station in 1889. He also assisted Douglas in the construction of the Liverpool Overhead Railway, which was opened in 1893.
Fox assisted in shoring-up of several cathedrals including St Paul's Cathedral and Winchester Cathedral in 1905.