SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Hi there
anyone still got any info on Joe Fox, Leeds boxer? I am doing some research into him.

SharonLisa1969 wrote: ↑

Sat 03 Sep, 2011 11:37 pm

Hi!Joe Fox (Judah Zelickman) was my Great Great Uncle!Joe's brother Harry was my Great Grandfather.I'm also researching for info for the family tree i'm doing so I'd love to share info with you, and if you would like to give me your email address I can invite you to view my Ancestry.co.uk family tree?

HI there - I have found out some info on Joe Fox and would be keen to share and find out more from you! Luke

Lbj wrote: ↑

Sun 12 Sep, 2021 12:54 pm

HI there - I have found out some info on Joe Fox and would be keen to share and find out more from you! Luke

On the managing expectations front, SharonLisa1969 has not logged in to the site since at the latest July 2014, the earliest date a User's "Last Active" is recorded and she hasn't got one. It is also possible that she hasn't logged in since that post back in 2011. Of course it isn't nescesary to login to view the site so she may have been lurking all these years. On the off chance she still has access to the email address she registered with, I've used the PM functionality to notify you of her post. This may, depending on her settings, send an alert to that email address.

Hi,

Joe Fox was my grandfather - the Lonsdale belt is still sitting in my mother’s flat. Curious as to what additional information you might have on him? His fight record is fairly easily available online.

BG

Hi BenG You must be very proud of him, sorry i cant give you any information about him.

Of course, going by the accounts of his fights, he was a quick, intelligent fighter and the sheer number of professional bouts is staggering. That said, he and his brothers did not have that many options to make a living; they were poor, recent immigrant Jews from Belarus and they went into the army and boxed to make ends meet.

BenG wrote: ↑

Thu 30 Sep, 2021 9:39 am

Hi,

Joe Fox was my grandfather - the Lonsdale belt is still sitting in my mother’s flat. Curious as to what additional information you might have on him? His fight record is fairly easily available online.

BG

Hello, joe fox was cousin to my grandmother who was Beatrice fox born 1895, her married surname was unger , my dad Harry unger went to joe fox’s funeral! We do have a photo of joe in a boxing stance somewhere in our collection! We was always told about joe I can remember my dad telling me in the early 80’s

Interesting, yes, we have a few photos from the time and , as I said, the belt sitting in its original box. I was born the year after he died but my parents and cousins and wider family would obviously have gone to his funeral.

I am pretty sure Fox was adopted as an anglicised name and the original family name was Zeligman, which is a not uncommon Jewish surname. They all came over from Horodetz in Belarus. However I thought he first took Joe Fox as his fighting name and his real name was Adolphus and/or Judah Zeligman, before later changing it by deed poll but if your grandmother was related and had that surname by 1895, maybe not. Perhaps they all became Fox soon after arriving. I’ll have to ask my mother, who was born and raised with the surname Fox, if she can remember.

I met his brother George Fox once in Melbourne in about 1979, living in an old age home, probably in his eighties, similar appearance, with bad cauliflower ears from boxing for his regiment in the army.

Hi, I know for sure my Nan Beatrice fox was related to joe! I can only think that joes and my nans father were brothers!
I don’t really know much on my nans side and that her original surname would of been zeligman! On my nans birth certificate it says she was born in Birmingham and also where I was born in 1968! My grandad Hyman unger was born in Leeds I don’t know how he met my nan! My dad Harris unger was born in 1936 but in London then they moved to blackpool during the Second World War then to Birmingham where me and my other siblings were born! As I said before it has to be early 80’s when I remember my dad telling me about your grandad joe fox and that he went to his funeral! It was very hard to get information out of my dad as being Jewish he never liked to talk of his and families struggles ! It would be fantastic if your mum could remember any of my family! The name Beatrice fox and her husband Hyman unger! Unfortunately my dad died in 2011 so we have literally no one to ask cheers , Stuart unger

Thanks for that. I am seeing her in a couple of days, so I’ll ask her if those names ring any bells for her. She was also born in Birmingham, after her parents moved from I think the Chapeltown area of Leeds.