Their address was Long Acre, near London's Covent Garden, and their cap manufacturer father's place of birth was given as Prussia; the mother's birthplace was not given.

On 15 May 1879 his partnership with Myers was dissolved by mutual consent,[3][4][5] and the next year he set up on his own as 'financial agent and arbitrator', Collins Street West.

[11][12] A conservative, he opposed payment of members and protection amid the bitter party strife which accompanied Sir Graham Berry's second government, and such measures as income tax and female suffrage in the 1890s.

[14][15] Good natured, genial and popular, he spoke in Parliament in a typically bantering style, and his puns were a byword, but he was less at ease on serious subjects.

[19][20] Zox suffered financial reverses in the early 1890s, but was still known for his earnest devotion to charitable movements and for his ready assistance to 'forlorn wayfarers'.