Sir Charles Fox the Engineer
Examples of the work of Charles Fox, known as the "Cast-iron Man", can be found all over the world.
As one of the greatest engineers of the 19th century, his feats include the Crystal Palace, early railway engine Novelty, railway station roofs at Euston, Paddington, Waterloo and Birmingham New Street and the first narrow gauge railway in India.
He was also engineer to the Queensland, Cape Town and Wynberg Railway and the Toronto narrow gauge lines.
Fox was born in the Wardwick, Derby, the youngest of four sons of Dr. Francis Fox.
Initially trained to follow his father's career, he abandoned medical training at the age of 19 and became articled to John Ericsson of Liverpool.
One of his earliest inventions, patented in 1832, was the railway points system, which superseded the sliding rail used up to that time.
Fox's company Fox, Henderson and Co, of London, Smethwick, and Renfrew, specialised in railway equipment, including wheels, bridges, roofs, cranes, tanks and permanent way materials.
It also experimented with components for suspension and girder bridges, with Fox reading a paper before the Royal Society in 1865.
Fox's involvement with the Crystal Palace, erected for the Great Exhibition in 1851, linked him with Joseph Paxton, who designed the gardens at Chatsworth House and is buried at Edensor on the estate.
This led to knighthoods for both Fox and Paxton.
Fox died at Blackeath in 1874 and an editorial of the time said he had "the love and respect of all who knew him".
Derby Telegraph Media Group Limited