Fox, Cyril, Sir, 1882-1967

Person

Fox, Cyril, Sir, 1882-1967

Sir Cyril Fox was an influential archaeologist whose work was closely associated with Wales. Born in Chippenham, Wiltshire, in 1882, he was educated at Christ's Hospital, London, and became a clerk at the bovine tuberculosis research station at Stansted, Essex, and later at Cambridge, during which time he also served in the Essex Yeomanry. After the First World War, Cyril Fox pursued a long-held interest in antiquities by studying archaeology at Magdalene College, Cambridge, rising to prominence in the archaeological world after the publication of his PhD study of the Cambridge region in 1923. He was appointed to a post at the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in Cambridge, and in 1924 he was nominated Keeper of Antiquities at the National Museum of Ireland, although the post was withheld for political reasons. In the same year, he was appointed Keeper of Archaeology at the National Museum of Wales, rising to become Director of the Museum two years later. He remained there until his retirement in 1948, overseeing the NMW's new building and the development of the Welsh Folk Museum at St Fagans. Always prolific in his fieldwork and publications, Cyril Fox was noted for his inspirational leadership and his literary, artistic and humane sensibility, and also his passion for landscape and craftsmanship. His division of Britain into Highland and Lowland zones was particularly influential, and his work included major studies of Offa's Dyke and Monmouthshire houses, as well as wide-ranging surveys and detailed examinations of Bronze Age, Iron Age, Mediaeval and Modern subjects across Britain and Ireland. He served on the royal commissions for ancient monuments in both England and Wales, and also on many other professional bodies, and he received numerous honours. Cyril Fox had two daughters with his first wife, Olive Congreve-Pridgeon, who died in 1932, and three sons with his second wife, Aileen Henderson, who was also an archaeologist. He died in 1967.

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