Royal Air Force
According to his RAF record Arthur Henry Fox was born at Fairford on 17 January 1886 but the Register of Births states that his birth was registered in 1887. He was the son of Arthur (a house decorator) and Ellen Fox, who, at the time of the 1911 census had five children and lived at London
Street, Fairford.
Young Arthur’s occupation was a photographer and in 1911 he was an assistant to a professional photographer in Bognor, Sussex.
He enlisted into the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) on 8 August 1916 as an Air Mechanic Third Class and was posted to 47 Squadron, stationed in Salonika. However, his record indicates that he may have spent the period 1 February 1917 to 5 May 1918 in Malta. He was promoted to Air Mechanic Second Class on 3 January 1917, reverting to his previous rank on 16 August 1917 before once more attaining Second Class status on 1 November 1917.
On 1 April 1918 the RFC was absorbed into the newly formed Royal Air Force (RAF).
There are indications in the RAF record that he was posted to the Western Front on 5 May 1918 and for the remainder of that year was posted to the School of Photography and School of Air Gunnery at Manston. In August 1918 he fell ill with appendicitis and died from this at Shorncliffe Military Hospital, Kent on 23 August 1918, age 31.
He was buried in Fairford (St Mary the Virgin) Churchyard, where a standard CWGC headstone marks his grave, bearing the initial ‘A H’. Behind this is a family headstone which commemorates Arthur. Originally the CWGC Register stated his first name to be ‘Albert’. Following submission of evidence, this was corrected to Arthur in March 2015.
Researched by Graham Adams 27 March 2015 (revised)