{{Short description|British politician}} {{Redirect|John M. Fox|the former mayor of Grand Rapids, Michigan|List of mayors of Grand Rapids, Michigan}} {{Other people}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable Sir | name = Marcus Fox | honorific_suffix = MBE | image = Sir Marcus Fox 1992.jpg | office = Member of Parliament <br /> for Shipley | predecessor = Geoffrey Hirst | successor = Chris Leslie | term_start = 18 June 1970 | term_end = 8 April 1997 | birth_name = John Marcus Fox | birth_date = {{birth date|1927|6|11|df=y}} | birth_place = Batley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England | death_date = {{death date and age|2002|3|16|1927|6|11|df=y}} | death_place = Shipley, West Yorkshire, England | spouse = {{marriage|Ann Tindall|1954}} | party = Conservative | children = 2 }}
'''Sir John Marcus Fox''' MBE (11 June 1927 – 16 March 2002) was a British Conservative Party politician. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Shipley from 1970 to 1997. He was chairman of the 1922 Committee between 1992 and 1997.
==Early life== John Marcus Fox was born at the Maternity Home, Bradford Road, Batley, Yorkshire, on Saturday, 11 June 1927.<ref name = ODNB>{{cite ODNB|title = Fox, Sir (John) Marcus (1927–2002), politician|last = Norton|first = Phillip|date = 2006|doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/76764}}</ref> He had a twin sister with whom he attended dancing lessons.<ref name = ODNB/> At those lessons, he met Betty Boothroyd, later to become the Speaker of the House of Commons.<ref name="Sir Marcus Fox">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1388125/Sir-Marcus-Fox.html|title=Sir Marcus Fox|date=19 March 2002|website=The Daily Telegraph}}</ref> He attended Wheelwright Grammar School for Boys (now a campus of Kirklees College) in Dewsbury.<ref name = ODNB/>
Fox served in the Duke of Wellington's Regiment as a Lieutenant, a detail which he was sometimes known to mention in after-dinner speeches. Fox left the Army and began his political career with his election to Dewsbury Council in 1956, remaining there until 1963. He then became a bank clerk, a sales manager for Woolworths and for Terry's in York, and then a company director.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/mar/19/guardianobituaries.conservatives|title=Sir Marcus Fox|first=John|last=Biffen|date=19 March 2002|work=The Guardian}}</ref> He unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary seat of Dewsbury in 1959, followed by Huddersfield West in 1966, before eventually being elected for Shipley in 1970.<ref name = ODNB/>
==Parliamentary career== Following Fox's election to parliament as the MP for Shipley, he served as a whip under Edward Heath, and then was a junior minister under Margaret Thatcher. He was moved back to the back-benches in 1981, and started ascending the pole to become chairman of the 1922 Committee, becoming vice-chairman in 1983 and chairman in 1992.<ref name = ODNB/> He received an MBE in 1963 for political services in Yorkshire,<ref>United Kingdom list: {{London Gazette |issue=42870 |date=28 December 1962 |pages=16 |supp=y}}</ref> was knighted in 1986 for political service,<ref>United Kingdom list: {{London Gazette |date=13 June 1986 |supp=y |issue=50551 |pages=2 }}</ref> and became a member of the Privy Council in 1996.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/sir-marcus-fox-9150771.html|title=Sir Marcus Fox|date=19 March 2002|access-date=7 July 2021|work=The Independent}}</ref>
Fox lost his seat at the general election in 1997 to Chris Leslie, the Labour candidate.<ref name = ODNB/>
==Personal life== He married Ann Tindall in 1954; they had a son and a daughter.<ref name="Sir Marcus Fox"/>
Fox was in poor health in the last years of his life, suffering from Alzheimer's disease as well as having multiple strokes.<ref name = ODNB/> He died at a care home in Shipley, West Yorkshire, on 16 March 2002, at the age of 74.<ref name = ODNB/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{Hansard-contribs | mr-marcus-fox | Marcus Fox }} * {{NPG name}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{succession box | before=Geoffrey Hirst | title=Member of Parliament for Shipley | years=1970–1997 | after=Chris Leslie}} {{s-off}} {{succession box | before=Cranley Onslow | title=Chairman of the 1922 Committee | years=1992–1997 | after=Archie Hamilton}} {{s-end}}
{{Chairmen of the 1922 Committee}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Marcus}} Category:1927 births Category:2002 deaths Category:20th-century English businesspeople Category:Chairmen of the 1922 Committee Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Category:Councillors in Kirklees Category:Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in England Category:English twins Category:Green Howards officers Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Category:People from Dewsbury Category:Politicians from Bradford Category:UK MPs 1970–1974 Category:UK MPs 1974 Category:UK MPs 1974–1979 Category:UK MPs 1979–1983 Category:UK MPs 1983–1987 Category:UK MPs 1987–1992 Category:UK MPs 1992–1997