Notes
James Ernest Cox was born at Croydon on 29 April 1908, the second son of Minnie (née Mason) and Samuel Cox, a draper’s buyer. He attended Whitgift Grammar School in Croydon from 1917 to 1926 and entered Worcester College on 12 October 1928. While at Worcester, James Cox played hockey and rugby for the College. His BA was conferred on the 6 June 1931, and some time after graduation he was ordained.
James Cox was commissioned as a Squadron Leader in the Chaplains Department of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve on 11 September 1939. On the morning of 28 April 1941 he was a passenger on an aircraft travelling from Bir El Gubbi to Fuka in northern Egypt. The aircraft was attacked by five Messerschmitts and shot down by the fighter ace Hans Joachim Marseille with the loss of all the passengers and crew, including the Reverend Chaplain Squadron Leader James Cox, aged 32.
James Cox is commemorated on the Alamein Memorial, and the war memorials at Sandown, Whitgift School and at Worcester College, Oxford.