Information supplied through Research Project led by Nigel Crompton.

Name: Agnes Letitia Darwin Fox
DoB: 01 April 1891
Place of birth: Sandown, Isle of Wight
Parents: Robert Gerard & Emily Mary (nee Chance)
Parental Home: Chad Hill, Hill Street, Sandown
Siblings: Victor William Darwin (1883-1915), Gerald DeGroete Darwin (1885-1909) Ellen Mary Darwin (1888-), Sybil Frances Darwin (1889-1902)

Spouse: Never married
Date of Wedding: Not applicable
Children : Not applicable
Marital home(s) : Not applicable
1901 Census: Purlieu House, Dibden, Hampshire
Employment: No occupation shown on 1911 census
1911 Census: 19 Hornton Street, Kensington, London
Date of death: 14 April 1970
Location: 229 Combe Lane, Wimbledon. Appears to have died at homeGretna details
Name: Agnes Letitia Darwin Fox
Clock No
Date joining: Not known
Date leaving: Not known
Addresses: Women’s Police Barracks No1, Gretna
Rank on start: Believed to be Sergeant
Promotion: Sub Inspector
Career after: Shown as Assistant Secretary (1921 census)
1921 Census : 19 Hornton Street, Kensington, London

Addresses after Gretna:
1925 – 1 Harley Gardens, Kensington

1935 – 10 Manor Road, Sidcup

1939 – 22 Barham Road, Wimbledon

1957 – 229 Combe Lane, Wimbledon

Additional information

Agnes was born on 1st April 1891 just in time to be included on the 1891 census along with her Mother, Father and 4 siblings plus servants. Her father had lived on the Isle of Wight since birth and was a Justice of the Peace (JP) amongst other positions held. They lived in Chad Hill, Hill Street, Sandown which is now a successful hotel.  In 1897, the family moved to much grander surroundings namely Purlieu House, Dibden, Hampshire where  in 1902 Agnes’s sister died aged 13. Only a few years later a double tragedy struck the family. In 1909 the family had moved from Purlieu House to Villa Amalthea, on the front at Hythe. Her father was suffering a  prolonged illness and in June 1909 died. Within a matter of weeks, her brother Gerald had passed away as well. Apart from a very large funeral, later the German Kaiser instructed the German Ambassador in London to travel to Hampshire to not only visit Agnes’s family but to place a wreath on his behalf. Robert Fox had been for many years the English Tutor to the Kaiser and his family in Germany.  After Robert’s death the family moved into London. Ellen, Agnes’s sister, married Arthur Hugo Daly after the Great War. Her brother Victor, serving in the Irish Guards was killed in action on 18 May 1915. Whilst it is pure supposition Agnes might well have been involved with the Suffragette movement and this is how and why she was an officer (Sub Inspector) in the Women Police Service at Gretna. After the war she travelled with mostly her mother to North America and by the 1939 registration document, was employed as a ‘Clerk of the Christian Science Church’. For many years she lived in and around Wimbledon, SW20, but passed away on 14 April 1970.

Sources Consulted

Source
Item consulted
Ancestry UK
English/ Welsh Census 1891, 1901,

1911, 1921, 1939 registration

Census, electoral registers

Births, Marriages, Deaths, Burial/ Cemetery records

Immigration and travel
British Newspaper Archive
Local, National & Scottish Newspapers
National Archives Kew
Ministry of Munitions & Women Police Service
National Archives Edinburgh
Gretna Police Area records
Devils Porridge Museum Archives
Valuation Roll for Gretna

Electoral Register 1918-1919
Dumfries Archives
Police & Court records
Scotlandspeople
Births, Marriages, Deaths

Valuation Roll for Gretna
Court, prison and legal records
Bow Street Court and Holloway Prison