The early years
Fr John studied for the Priesthood at St Augustine's College Canterbury in those years between the wars and when the Anglo Catholic faith in the Church of England was enjoying considerable support.  He was of that second generation that followed the Oxford Movement priests and the Ritualists such as Pusey, Newman and later Lowder and Mackonochie and others.

His ability as an oarsman was highly acclaimed and he kept the sawn-down oar which he used as stroke when St Augustine's crew for the first and only time defeated Oxford's first crew. 

Following his ordination he served as assistant curate at St Alphege, Hendon, St Mary Magdalene, Paddington and the for a time at St Anne's Derby. He found some time for missionary work in South Africa but frankly admitted that the climate disagreed with him.

The coming of World War II
When the second world war broke out he was amongst the first to volunteer for chaplaincy service even though his vicar was reluctant to allow him to go. He accompanied the invasion forces through Holland and Germany being most often in the thick of battle.  None were more fierce than the battles around Nimjwegan and Arnhem when he served with the Parachute Regiment and later with the Welsh Borderers.

He celebrated a victory Mass for the troops choosing to utilise an infamous gas chamber, the place of great evil, to be his chapel.  In so doing he vividly symbolized that amidst the greatest evil there is God. On his demobilization he was made an Honorary Chaplain to the Forces which he treasured for the rest of his life.

Back to parish work
On his return to civilian life and with no job he went to see Arthur Winnington Ingram the Bishop of London to see what could be found for him.  The Bishop asked, "What church would you like to go to?"  Father John was quick to respond, "I would rather like St Martin's in the Fields," he said.  The idea of being vicar of one of London's richest and most prestigious churches clearly attracted him.

"Well you cant have it," was the Bishop's immediate response and he was told that there was other work for him to do.  So he was sent to be the vicar of St Peter's London Docks in the war ravaged east end of London.

St Peter's London Docks
What he found of Lowder's great church dedicated to St Peter was almost beyond belief.  Beautiful when constructed and dedicated in 1866 St Peter's looked and was an absolute wreck.  A direct hit by one of the thousands of bombs which fell around the docks on the adjacent Mission House occupied by an Order of Sisters, killing one of them, had demolished the house and all but destroyed the Church.  There was no roof merely a temporary cover and not a piece of glass remained in the windows.  It seemed that only the walls stood and little else had survived.  Yet services had continued for that is the nature of the east Londoner - never to give in.

In the ensuing five years Fr John set about the restoration with an enthusiasm which is difficult to imagine. Almost single handed he raised the money needed and himself designed much of the pictorial glass which later was to be a brilliant feature of the restored St Peter's.  Slowly from the ashes arose what was to be called the 'Cathedral of the Docks' - a church even more magnificent that that which Lowder himself had bequeathed to the parish. 

The wonderful Willis organ had been stored away before too much damage could be caused but it was a monumental and costly job to restore this but restored it was. The Mission House was totally rebuilt and the Sisters of Charity moved in to carry out their important parish work. 

Fr John did not avoid controversy.  When he restored the Lady chapel he commissioned a painting of the Blessed Virgin seated on a dockside bollard with the river and docks behind her.  Some thought this to be irreverent and told him so but he was never deterred from his vision.  Today the painting of 'Our Lady of the Docks' is much loved and revered.

The beautiful baptistry was carefully restored and its unique font cover lovingly reguilded and painted, there were new statues to replace what had been destroyed and slowly the magnificence of St Peter's London Docks was revealed. Like the memorial to Sir Christopher Wren in St Paul's Cathedral one could say of John Fox and St Peter's, "If you seek his memorial look around you."

His name is there.  In the bottom of one of the windows in the Blessed Sacrament chapel is his name and a picture of a beautiful red fox. 

A wider inspiring ministry
Although remembered mostly for his restoration of Wapping's 'Cathedral' his ministry was much wider. For several years he was a Proctor in Convocation (a member of the Church of England's Synod).  For over 25 years and until his retirement he was Warden of the Guild of Servants of the Sanctuary (GSS).  This large nation-wide altar servers guild under his guidance inspired a great reverence in our churches up and down the country.  He was much in demand as a preacher and travelled widely. His love of Walsingham was great and each year he led a pilgrimage from the parish.  It was of great delight to him when he was invited to preach at the National Pilgrimage.

St Barnabas Pimlico
His work completed he was ready for a move and this saw him appointed as vicar of St Barnabas Pimlico, in the west end of London, and one of London's most beautiful and richly decorated churches of the Anglo Catholic revival.  It was an appropriate move for him given his love of Charles Lowder.  Fr Lowder had been curate at St Barnabas before starting his mission in Wapping.  Fr Fox often said how delighted he was to make the journey in reverse.

40+ years devoted to the Lord's work
He celebrated his forty years of Priesthood whilst at St Barnabas and later retired to a seaside flat in Margate, Kent, the area from which his grandparents had originally come. He was not to enjoy a long retirement and died on St George's Day 1976.

There is more information about St Peter's on the St Peter's London Docks site including many pictures of the church
click here to go to the site