William Earnest Bassett-Fox

Grandad Fox was born in Bangalore, India in 1883. He had an interesting life and I remember my mother telling me that he had a job as a bareback rider in Buffalo Bills Wild West Show when it toured the UK. Putting the two events together I concluded that my grandfather was a Red Indian!
This photograph was at the wedding of Hilda to Sydney Stanton in 1935 where Mary and Mum were bridesmaids.
A lot of research has been done on the Fox side of the family by cousin Ron Fox, Uncle Syd Fox and Mums cousin George has researched the Pratley side (Grandma Fox nee Pratley). I will reproduce some of their work on these pages.
Grandad Fox went to boarding school in India and lost the sight of his right eye when a rifle breach exploded. On his eventual return to England he found himself in the Elan valley in Wales working on the dams which were being built as part of providing water for Birmingham. It was there that he met my grandmother whose father was also working on that project. The contactors families all lived in wooden huts and grandad was a lodger in the same hut as the Pratley family.
Grandad worked as a fireman and a policeman in Wales and eventually married grandma in 1906. They had ten children of which seven survived to adulthood. He died of cancer in 1950.

Created on Jun 1st, 2015