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David Henry (Dave) Fox (1860–1950)

by Chris Cunneen

David Henry (Dave or ‘Doc’) Fox (1860-1950) sportsman, gas company employee and cricket scorer

Birth: 17 December 1860 at Fitzroy, Melbourne, Victoria, son of Alexander Fox (1830-1870), a Jewish photographic artist from London, and Sydney-born Rosetta, née Phillips (1834-1916). Marriage: 5 September 1900 at Jolimont, Melbourne, to native-born Irene Helen (Rene) Stubbs (1880-1969). They had three daughters and one son. Death: 1 September 1950 in his usual residence at East Malvern, Melbourne. 

  • From about 1874 was employed by Metropolitan Gas Company. In 1884 he was the company’s ledger-keeper. Described in later electoral rolls as “collector”.
  • Had played cricket as a youth for South Melbourne. Giving up cricket, he was captain and secretary of Melbourne lacrosse club, playing continuously from 1878 to 1888. He was secretary of the Victorian Lacrosse Association. Also a good tennis-player.
  • Returned to cricket in 1900 and managed several colt teams, and Victorian Junior Cricket Association teams. Umpired Victorian v. New South Wales cricket teams.
  • A foundation member and sometime president and vice-president of the Caulfield District Association and the VJCA, and representative of the VJCA on the Sub-District Association.
  • Retired from the gas company in 1925 and took to cricket scoring as a hobby. On his first job as official scorer with the Victorian team visiting Western Australia, a printer interpreted his initials as ‘DR’ on the programme and he was thereafter known as ‘Doctor’ or ‘Doc’.
  • In March 1934 he went to Tasmania with the Australian eleven as honorary scorer and was presented with an inscribed clock by the team. A profile that year recorded that ‘Doc’ Fox “is a life member of every club and association imaginable and every cricket door in the Commonwealth is open to him.”
  • A 1937 reporter described his “speech and manner reflecting a delightful old-world courtesy, he is one of the gentlemen of cricket”. The following year he accompanied the Australian cricket team to Perth to score in the match there, en route to England.
  • Was a public figure as Victoria’s honorary scorer, often travelling interstate with the team, until a serious illness in 1940.
  • The artist Emanuel Phillips Fox was his brother and radical author Len Fox was his son.

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Citation details

Chris Cunneen, 'Fox, David Henry (Dave) (1860–1950)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/fox-david-henry-dave-13982/text42121, accessed 7 December 2024.

© Copyright People Australia, 2012

Life Summary [details]

Birth

17 December, 1860
Fitzroy, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Death

1 September, 1950 (aged 89)
Malvern, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Cause of Death

heart disease

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