Draft:George Addison Cox

Cox was born in Lochee in 1820, the youngest son of James Cock (later Cox) and Helen Scott.^[1] He joined his brothers James, William and Thomas Hunter Cox in the family firm, which transitioned from linen to jute manufacture during the mid-nineteenth century.^[5]

According to the Dictionary of Scottish Architects, the construction of completely new works at Lochee began in 1850 to Cox’s design, developed in consultation with Peter Carmichael of Baxter Brothers.^[4] Warden noted that the Camperdown Works of Cox Brothers appeared unusual in the district in carrying out the entire manufacturing process on a single site - from raw material to finished cloth - within a single works complex, with materials passing systematically between departments. ^[6][7]

By the 1870s the complex covered approximately thirty acres and employed several thousand workers.^[7] The most prominent surviving feature is **Cox’s Stack**, an 86-metre (282 ft) chimney whose engineering design is attributed to Cox, with architectural detailing by the Dundee architect James MacLaren. Cox’s Stack, with its campanile form and decorative brickwork, stands as a landmark of Dundee’s jute industry and the city’s role in the Scottish Industrial Revolution.^[8][9][4]

An early twentieth-century account described George Addison Cox as “a qualified engineer” to whom “the entire control of the works was given”, stating that in each department “the impress of a master mind is apparent—in construction, attention to detail, and in the productive power of appliances.”^[10] Warden noted that works were laid out on a regular plan, allowing materials to pass efficiently from department to department^[6].

In addition to his role in the management of Cox Brothers, Cox was responsible for much of the engineering design associated with the development of the firm’s mills at Lochee. Contemporary descriptions credited him with overseeing the construction of the works and the installation of machinery used in the preparation, spinning and weaving of jute.

Cox also patented several improvements to textile machinery during the mid-nineteenth century, including devices for winding yarn and machinery used in the preparation of jute and other fibrous materials.^{[11][12][13][14][15]} One patent described improved mechanical arrangements for snipping, teasing, hackling, cutting and breaking jute, hemp and flax fibres in order to speed their preparation for spinning.

These developments reflected the technical challenges involved in adapting machinery originally developed for flax and other fibres to the processing of raw jute, and building a continuous sequence of mechanical processes that integrated preparation, spinning, weaving and labour within a single coordinated system of machinery, power into large mills such as Camperdown Works.^[16][17]

He served as a justice of the peace^[18] and was later appointed deputy lieutenant of Dundee.^[19]

Cox died at Tunbridge Wells on 6 May 1899^[1] and was buried in the Western Cemetery, Dundee^[20].