Fox, Cecil Croker

FOX, Cecil Croker (1879-1916), partner in the firm of Maclure & Fox of Vancouver, was born in Falmouth, England on 14 November 1879 and educated at Malvern College. He moved to London where he trained under Alfred Waterhouse, an acknowledged master of High Victorian style, and with Charles F.A. Voysey, one of the leading exponents of the Arts & Crafts movement. Fox undoubtedly learned much about residential architecture from Voysey, and when he emigrated to British Columbia in 1898 he sought out Samuel Maclure, already a renowned figure in architectural circles who specialized in designing private houses. Fox assisted Maclure in his Victoria office, then moved to Vancouver in February 1905 to manage their new branch office on Granville Street (see list of works under Maclure & Fox). The partnership thrived, with Fox supervising the construction of more than forty projects built between 1905 and 1915. Fox joined the British Army during WWI and obtained the rank of lieutenant. He was killed in action in France on 15 September 1916 while a member of the East Surrey Regiment (Const., xi, March 1918, 76). He left an estate valued at $14,900 Cdn. to his two brothers in England (BCPA, Wills #4498; biog. in Vancouver Daily World, 24 Feb. 1905, 12; biog. Who's Who & Why in Canada, 1913, 256; M. Segger, Buildings of Samuel Maclure, 1986, 163-4; D. Luxton, Building the West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 149-50, 152, 154-5)