John Edmund Cox Explained

John Edmund Cox (1812–1890), also Edmond, was an English cleric and antiquarian, best known as an editor of the works of Thomas Cranmer.

Life

He was the eldest son of John (or George) Cox of Norwich, a furniture maker.^[1] In his musical memoirs, Cox wrote about Paganini's 1831 visit to Norwich, lodging with the family.^[2] He matriculated at All Souls' College, Oxford in 1832, aged 19, graduating B.A. in 1836, M.A. 1840, B. & D.D. in 1870. He was ordained deacon in 1836, priest in 1837.^[3] His first living was Aldeby, from where he moved to St Mary, Southtown, Great Yarmouth.^[4]

Elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1846, Cox at that time was a curate of St Giles Cripplegate.^[5] He was then at St Dunstan's, Stepney, where on 21 February 1847 he preached a sermon "National judgements" on the famine in Ireland: he had published in 1843 a Great Yarmouth sermon under the same title. On this occasion he attributed the higher mortality in West Cork to agrarian and sectarian violence. His views lead Peter Gray to class him as an "ultra-Protestant".^{[6] [7] [8]}

Cox was elected to the Numismatic Society of London in 1847.^[9] He became vicar in charge and lecturer of St Helen's, Bishopsgate in 1849.

Cox was Grand Chaplain of Freemasons and chaplain to the Royal Society of Musicians, and he chaired the Poor Clergy Relief Society.^{[10] [11] [12]} He died on 27 October 1890.^[13]

Works

For the Parker Society, Cox edited the works of Cranmer in two volumes:

• Writings and Disputations of Thomas Cranmer: Relative to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper (1844)^[14]
• Miscellaneous Writings and Letters of Thomas Cranmer (1846)^[15]

The editorial work was complicated by forgeries made by Robert Ware. Cox's work followed the scholarship of the edition by Henry Jenkyns of The Remains of Thomas Cranmer of the 1830s, and was followed by the 1853 edition by Philip Edward Barnes (1815–1860) of the Memorials of the Rev. Thomas Cranmer by John Strype.^{[16] [17]} Harry Culverwell Porter wrote in a 1966 book review that Cox's edition of Cranmer's works was standard, while the edition of Jenkyns published the original version of the Defence of the True and Catholic Doctrine of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, of which Cox gave the later version in Latin.^[18]

Other works were:

• Bellum Papale by Thomas James (1841), editor^{[19] [20]}
• Treatise on the Corruptions of Scripture, Councils and Fathers by Thomas James (1843), editor^[20]
• A Brief Sketch of the Life of the Late Miss Sarah Martin of Great Yarmouth (Yarmouth, 1844) anonymous editor of the memoir of Sarah Martin^{[4] [21]}
• Hermann Olshausen, Biblical Commentary on St. Paul's First and Second Epistles to the Corinthians (1851), translator^[22]
• Musical Recollections of the Last Half-Century (1872, 2 vols.). Cox worked as a newspaper music critic, and was a friend of Michael Costa; he was also on good terms with George Thomas Smart.^{[11] [23]} In 1849 he was a recently joined member of the Sacred Harmonic Society.^[24] In 1859 he took part in the discussion led by the Society of Arts on the French government's legislation on concert pitch.^[25]
• Annals of St. Helen's Bishopsgate (London, 1876), based mainly on The Last Ten Years of the Priory of S. Helen, Bishopsgate (1856) by Thomas Hugo.^{[26] [27]}

Among his works on Freemasonry were:^[19]

• Dr. Ashe's Manual and Lectures
• The Ancient Constitutions of the Order

Cox wrote much for the Church of England Quarterly Review and North British Review.^[13] He edited the second edition (1845) of George Townsend's polemical Accusations of History Against the Church of Rome (1825).^{[28] [29]}

Family

Cox married in 1844 Emily Clara Pittman, daughter of John Pittman.^[30] The barrister Hugh Bertram Cox (1861–1930) was their son. With his sister Clara L. E. Cox, who contributed the footnotes, he edited Leaves from the Journals of Sir George Smart (1907).^{[23] [10]}

Notes and References

1. Web site: Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, C, British History Online . www.british-history.ac.uk.
2. Vyborny . Zdenek . Paganini und Beethoven . Die Musikforschung . 1960 . 13 . 3 . 327 . 41114259 . 0027-4801.
3. Book: Boase . Frederic . Modern English Biography: Containing Many Thousand Concise Memoirs of Persons who Have Died Since the Year 1850, with an Index of the Most Interesting Matter . 1908 . Netherton and Worth, For the author . 783. 4 . en.
4. Web site: 1890 Norfolk Chronicle newspaper Selections . www.foxearth.org.uk.
5. Book: The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle . 1846 . Edw. Cave, 1736-[1868] . 632 . en.
6. Book: A Hand-Book to all places of Public Worship in London. Containing also an Alphabetical List of the Clergymen and Ministers, etc . 1848 . Sampson Low . 26 . en.
7. Book: Norwich Public Library . A Catalogue of the Books belonging to the Public Library, and to the City Library of Norwich; methodically arranged. With an alphabetical index of the authors. (First -third Appendix.) . 1847 . 25 . en.
8. Gray . Peter . National Humiliation and the Great Hunger: Fast and Famine in 1847 . Irish Historical Studies . 2000 . 32 . 126 . 204 . 10.1017/S002112140001484X . 30006996 . 163239212 . 0021-1214.
9. Proceedings of the Numismatic Society. Session 1846—7 . The Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Numismatic Society . 1847 . 10 . 9 . 42680691 . 2054-9172.
10. Maclean . Charles . Sir George Smart, Musician-Diarist . Sammelbände der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft . 1909 . 10 . 2 . 291 . 929425 . 1612-0124.
11. Obituary . The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular . December 1, 1890 . 31 . 574 . 732 . 3362048 .
12. Book: Fry . Herbert . Our Schools and Colleges. Containing the principal particulars respecting endowed Grammar Schools, ... as also information respecting Colleges and Universities. First annual edition . 1867 . R. Hardwicke . xvi . en.
13. Web site: TheCurranIndex - Cox, John Edmund . curranindex.org.
14. Book: Cranmer . Thomas . Writings and Disputations of Thomas Cranmer: Relative to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper . 1844 . University Press . en.
15. Book: Cranmer . Thomas . Parker Society (Great Britain) . Miscellaneous Writings and Letters of Thomas Cranmer . 1846 . University Press . en.
16. MacCulloch . Diarmaid . Foxes, Firebrands, and Forgery: Robert Ware's Pollution of Reformation History . The Historical Journal . 2011 . 54 . 2 . 339 . 10.1017/S0018246X10000580 . 23017975 . 162649706 . 0018-246X.
17. Book: Townsend . George Henry . Men of the Time: A Dictionary of Contemporaries, Containing Biographical Notices of Eminent Characters of Both Sexes . 1868 . G. Routledge and sons . 445 . en.
18. Porter . H. C. . Review of The Work of . The English Historical Review . 1966 . 81 . 320 . 587 . 561683 . 0013-8266.
19. Book: Cooper . Thompson . Men of the Time: A Dictionary of Contemporaries . 1875 . G. Routledge and sons . 286 . en.
20. Book: Low . Sampson . Stewart . James Douglas . The English Catalogue of Books: v. [1]. 1835-1863 ]. 1864 . Sampson Low, Marston . 404. 1 . en.
21. Book: Martin . Sarah . A Brief Sketch of the Life of the Late Miss Sarah Martin of Great Yarmouth: With Extracts from the Parliamentary Reports on Prisons, Her Own Prison Journals, &c, &c . 1844 . C. Barber . en.
22. Book: Olshausen . Hermann . Biblical Commentary on St. Paul's First and Second Epistles to the Corinthians . 1851 . T. & T. Clark . en.
23. Book: Carnelley . John . George Smart and Nineteenth-century London Concert Life . 2015 . Boydell & Brewer . 978-1-78327-064-4 . 19 . en.
24. Correspondence . The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular . 1849 . 3 . 57 . 108–109 . 10.2307/3370396 . 3370396 . 0958-8434.
25. POTTER . CIPRIANI . BRUZAUD . GEORGE . DONALDSON . JOHN . MELLON . ALFRED . GRIESBACH . J. HENRY . OUSELEY . FREDERICK A. GORE . GOSS . JOHN . Uniform Musical Pitch . The Journal of the Society of Arts . 1859 . 7 . 342 . 503 . 41334475 . 2049-7865.
26. Book: Cox . John Edmund . The Annals of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, London . 1876 . Tinsley Brothers . en.
27. Web site: Bibliography, Survey of London Monograph 9, Crosby Place, British History Online . www.british-history.ac.uk.
28. 27609. Sinéad. Agnew. Townsend, George.
29. Book: Howard . Miss Anne . Ridley Seldom, or, The way to keep Lent. A Tale for the times . 1845 . 9 . en.
30. Book: The Court Magazine and Monthly Critic, and Lady's Magazine and Museum: A Family Journal of the Belles Lettres, Music, Fine Arts, Drama, Fashion, Etc . 1844 . Dobbs . 90 . en.