Paddy Fox
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Clonmel, Irish Free State
Paddy Fox | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Birth name | William Francis Fox |
| Born | 3 September 1933 Clonmel, Irish Free State |
| Died | 9 January 2016 (aged 82) |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service | British Army |
| Years of service | 1951–1956, 1958–1988 |
| Rank | Staff sergeant |
| Unit | 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars |
William Francis "Paddy" Fox BEM (3 September 1933 – 9 January 2016) was a British Army recruiter and Chelsea Pensioner. He served as a radio operator in the 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars from 1951. With a brief period as a court usher from 1956 to 1958, Fox remained in the army until 1988. In 1968 he became a recruiter, based in Horden near Peterlee in County Durham. By the end of his career he had recruited 2,000 men to his regiment, becoming the British Army's most successful recruiting sergeant.
Fox received the British Empire Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal. In retirement Fox found employment as an usher in the Peterlee magistrates court. Suffering from poor health in later life, he entered the Royal Hospital Chelsea in 2001. He worked there as a tour guide while also maintaining allotments and helping with the Royal British Legion's Poppy Appeal. In 2010, as part of the hospital's Men in Scarlet act, he sang on a music album. He died in 2016.
Fox, who was always known as "Paddy", was born at a racing stables near Clonmel, County Tipperary, in the Irish Free State on 3 September 1933.[1][2] His father was a groom from Belfast and his mother a nurse from Oxfordshire; they had both moved to Clonmel to work on a country estate. At birth Fox weighed just 3 pounds (1.4 kg); the attending doctor advised that he would not survive and a grave was dug for him.[3] Fox was raised in the Church of Ireland faith.[4] Fox had eleven siblings and his family was poor.[1][3] Four of Fox's elder brothers left to join the British Army during the Second World War. Fox wanted to join them but was too young.[3]
In May 1951 Fox enlisted in the 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars, a British Army cavalry regiment.[2] He served with them as a radio operator in the Daimler Dingo armoured car.[3] Later in his career he served as a radio instructor, a nuclear, biological and chemical warfare instructor and flew in Saunders-Roe Skeeter helicopters.[2][3] After an initial deployment to Hamburg, Germany, he was posted to various garrisons for two years before being sent to Derry, Northern Ireland, on secondment to the North Irish Horse, a Territorial Army unit.[1]
Fox left the army in 1956. He spent two years as an usher at the magistrates court in Durham, England, before rejoining the 15th/19th Hussars. During this period of his service he ran the household of the General Officer Commanding, Northumbrian District and attended various courses, including in recruitment.[1]
