The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
What did the Foxes ever do for Harrogate?
Actor Edward Fox visits the Yorkshire town that bears testimony to the vision and wealth of his illustrious ancestors
Ihave found fresh insights into my Yorkshire family roots on each visit to the old spa town of Harrogate – and they have been very frequent during the restoration of the Royal Hall. It is the only surviving “Kursaal” (a German word meaning “Cure Hall”) in England, a beautiful creation by Frank Matcham, the great Victorian theatre designer who was responsible for London’s Coliseum and the Palladium theatres. It was rescued from imminent
demolition by the sheer determination of a local woman, Lilian Mina; and it was opened 10 years ago by the Prince of Wales, its patron and an enthusiastic supporter of the project.
My great-grandfather, Samson Fox, knew of Kursaals from his visits to German spa towns such as BadenBaden, and when he was mayor of Harrogate paid to send his councillors, who were against building one in their town, to see for themselves examples in the spa centres of Europe. They came back so full of what they had seen, a decision was made to build it, starting in 1901. A unique feature is a wide area that circles the building on one level where, during Harrogate’s heyday as a spa, Edwardian women could stroll about to show themselves off during the interval before sitting down to supper. It was always flexible enough to feature concerts and smart dances, as well as burlesque and music hall stars such as Dan Leno.
Samson Fox was born in 1838, in Bowling, near Bradford, to Sarah and Jonas Fox, a poor man working as a weaver in a textile mill. Samson left school at the age of eight to work in a factory (most likely where his father worked). However, from an early age, his abiding interest was all things mechanical. Although Jonas wanted him to remain a weaver, Samson reportedly said: “I’ll tramp till I find a job in iron and steel. I’ll have nowt else.”
He began work as an apprentice aged 15 in a foundry in Armley, a district of Leeds, and started his own business – Leeds Forge Company – 20 years later, where he developed the corrugated boiler flue. It was to be the first of his 150 patents and the foundation of a great fortune. As soon as he was able to afford it, he escaped to a healthier place, building for himself the palatial
Grove House on the edge of the moors just outside Harrogate.
My grandfather, Willie Fox, was a lover of music and met an American soprano at a party. Madame Nordica was then performing in Wagner’s
The Ring in London. During their conversation, she mentioned that, when appearing as Brunhilde, she’d always wondered about the racket made by the angry dwarf Alberich, and the Nibelungs, bashing out the gold on anvils beneath her feet.
Willie said that was exactly what his father did, and would she like to experience what it was really like?
She went up to meet Samson, who made a great fuss of her and showed her the Leeds forge at work.
During their time together, she told Samson of her work modernising London’s Royal College of Music, and its need of a bigger establishment. Samson gave her the £30,000 required; when, inevitably, it needed half as much again to complete the building, and he was told they had another donor, he paid that as well, stating: “Nay, we’ll not have two hands at this.”
On my recent visit to Yorkshire for a concert at the Royal Hall, I stopped for a night at an 800-year-old-coaching inn, the Yorke Arms, on the edge of the Dales, run by a friend of mine called Frances Atkins. She’s had a Michelin star for the past 16 years, and her delicious food demonstrates that hospitality really is an art. I sat down to dinner next to a couple who, like me, had travelled from Dorset. He was born in Bradford and went through years of grammar school seated next to David Hockney, although his own drawings didn’t quite make it on to the classroom wall.
There is a running joke among my family about how slowly I drive – but there is the beautiful Yorkshire country to see on the short journey to