Background
Masson Fox was born into a Quaker family (although he was not related to the Quakers’ founder George Fox) and was a cousin of the fraudulent sinologist Sir Edmund Backhouse, 2nd Baronet.
Masson Fox was born into a Quaker family (although he was not related to the Quakers’ founder George Fox) and was a cousin of the fraudulent sinologist Sir Edmund Backhouse, 2nd Baronet.
Fox is described by chess historian Thomas Rayner Dawson (1889–1951) as “a friendly man, kind, mellow, lovable, bringing peace and comfort and serene joy with him”. He was also a discreet but active homosexual. In 1912-1913 Fox was blackmailed by a woman who accused him of seducing her 16-year-old son.
However, Fox was profoundly affected by the publicity surrounding the case, which was reported in detail in the local press
The predictable result of his courageous action was the destruction of his reputation, and the compromise of his business and social life in Falmouth. Although he continued to live in Cornwall, the focus of his social life shifted to London, and in the last two decades of his life, Fox became prominent in the world of chess.
He was elected President of the Cornwall Chess Association, played a prominent part in the development of the British Chess Society, and is still renowned as one of the greatest ever exponents of fairy chess (chess problems with variations in the rules). Solution of problem is: 1.Gh3 Gh4 2.Gh5 Gh6 3.Gh7 Gh8 4.Ge7 Gd7 5.Gc7 Gb7 6.Ga7+ Ga6 7.Ga5+ Ga4 8.Ga3#.