George Addison Cox

George Addison Cox (1820 – 6 May 1899) was a Scottish industrialist and architect-engineer closely associated with the Camperdown Works in Lochee, Dundee, one of the largest integrated jute manufacturing complexes of the 19th century. During the Industrial Revolution in Scotland, he designed much of the Camperdown Works complex and oversaw its engineering layout and mechanical organisation, contributing to the growth of large-scale jute manufacturing in Dundee, then a major centre of the jute industry.

He oversaw the layout and installation of machinery at Camperdown Works, drawing on practical experience in mechanical design and mill engineering, and is credited with the engineering design of its landmark chimney, Cox's Stack, which remains a prominent feature of the city's industrial landscape. Cox's Stack, a Category A Listed Building in Lochee, Dundee, Camperdown Works, designed by George Addison Cox with James MacLaren, built 1865–6, visible on the city's skyline.

Through George Addison Cox's planning, engineering and supervision, the Camperdown Works grew to become the world's largest jute factory.

Early life

Cox was born in Lochee in 1820, the youngest son of James Cock (later Cox) and Helen Scott. Another brother, Henry Cox, was generally resident in Calcutta to manage business interests there.

Camperdown Works

According to the Dictionary of Scottish Architects, the construction of completely new works at Lochee began in 1850 to George Addison Cox's design. It lists and attributes the design of numerous buildings within the complex to Cox over the following three decades, noting Peter Carmichael's assistance in connection with the High (Sliver) Mill and James Maclaren's collaboration on Cox's Stack. This arrangement has been noted as a distinctive feature of the works.

By the 1870s the complex covered approximately thirty acres and employed several thousand workers.

An early twentieth-century account described George Addison Cox as “a qualified engineer” to whom “the entire control of the works was given”, noting that in each department “the impress of a master mind is apparent.” Warden also noted that works were laid out on a regular plan, allowing materials to pass efficiently from department to department. followed by a patent for improvements in the treatment and preparation of jute, hemp, flax and other fibrous materials (1863). His later patents included improvements in carpets, sackings, checks, bed-ticks or tickings, and other similar textile fabrics (1868).

Other members of the Cox family, including his brother William Cox, also contributed to technical developments in textile machinery. These developments reflected the challenges of adapting machinery originally developed for flax and other fibres to the processing of jute.

Public service

He served as a justice of the peace and was later appointed deputy lieutenant of Dundee.

Family

George Addison Cox married Eliza Methven (1827–1872) in 1848. She was the daughter of David Methven. According to Burke (1897), the couple had seven children: six sons and one daughter. Their children included James Cox; David Methven Cox; George Methven Cox; Alfred William Cox; Charles Thomas Cox; Edmund Connel Cox; and Jessie Methven Cox (6 July 1854 – 30 November 1928), who married Dr William Sinclair-Thomson (brother of Sir St Clair Thomson) on 6 October 1875 in Dundee.

George's fifth son, Charles Thomas Cox (c.1865–1948), was the subject of a Court of Session succession case, after his death, concerning the interpretation of his will, in which the court held that children conceived but not yet born at the time of his death were entitled to inherit under the terms of the settlement.

Invertrossachs

In 1875 George Addison Cox purchased the Invertrossachs estate on the southern shore of Loch Venachar in Perthshire. According to Thomas Hunter, the estate extended for about 4 miles (6.4 km) along the southern shore of the loch.thumb Loch Venachar in view At the time of purchase it included about 300 acres of mature woodland, and over the following eight years Cox planted a further 200 acres, principally with larch, Scots pine and spruce. He also carried out extensive drainage, erected substantial stone dykes and wire fencing, improved grazing, and introduced better breeding stock for Blackface sheep and Highland cattle.

Hunter also presented the estates acquired by George Addison Cox and his brothers James and William as notable examples of the improvements undertaken by new proprietors in Perthshire during the late nineteenth century, describing extensive programmes of planting, drainage, road-making and landscape enhancement shortly after each estate was acquired.

In 1893 Malcolm Ferguson described Invertrossachs House as occupying "a beautiful site on the brow of an elevated eminence overlooking the lake", commanding "a varied and magnificent look-out".

Death

Cox died at Tunbridge Wells on 6 May 1899.