Douglas Fox

Sir Charles Douglas Fox (14 May 1840 – 13 November 1921) was an English civil engineer.

Early life Douglas was born in Smethwick, Staffordshire, the oldest son of Sir Charles Fox and had two brothers and a sister.

Early engineering projects

In 1863 Douglas was made a partner and by 1865 the firm was involved in major projects in Britain, the US, Canada, southern Africa, India, Australia, and South America. He received promotion to Lieutenant in that unit, since renamed the London Rifle Volunteer Corps, on 18 November 1863. During this period Douglas held several patents including one for "improvements in machinery for nicking and dressing the heads of screw-blanks" which was approved on 28 April 1868, one for "improvements in the manufacture of method of repairing railway rails and other iron in a permanent way and in the machinery to be employed therein" on 30 July 1868 and one for "improvements in screw cutting and threading machines and in the construction of screw nails and spikes" on 30 April 1866. The latter two patents expired after a seven-year period for non-payment of stamp duty required for a patent extension. He worked on several of London's early tube lines including the Great Northern and City tube, the Hampstead tube which linked Charing Cross with Golders Green and Highgate,

Further afield Douglas was involved with the design of much of the Cape Colony railways, the whole Rhodesia railway system, which included the 500 ft span Victoria Falls Bridge, the Benguela Railway in Angola, and several railways in South America. Freeman rose to become senior partner, and in 1938 the firm changed its name to Freeman Fox & Partners, and later Acer Freeman Fox.

In 1887 he was made an honorary fellow of his alma mater, King's College London and from November 1899 to November 1900 served as president of the Institution of Civil Engineers. In 1900, Fox was elected an honorary member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Death He died on 13 November 1921 in Kensington, at the home of one of his daughters; Mary had died the year before. In 1988 it became Acer Freeman Fox and is now known as Hyder Consulting (since taken over by Dutch-based Arcadis.