[5] His uncle was Alfred Cox, a large landowner and member of the New Zealand House of Representatives.

He was apprenticed to be a physician for three years and learned dispensing at the Sydney Infirmary, acted as a clinical clerk, assisted at post mortems and was present at one of the first operations using chloroform in 1852.

He was registered as a medical practitioner in New South Wales in February 1859 and developed a lucrative private practice in Sydney.

[8] He was also a member of the Australian Club for over 50 years and was known for his after-dinner speeches on the early days of Sydney.

[1] Through his daughter Millicent, he was a grandfather of Lady Muriel Felicia Vere Bertie (d. 1981) who married Henry Liddell-Grainger in 1922, with whom she had several children, including David Liddell-Grainger; after Henry's death, Lady Muriel married Sir Malcolm Barclay-Harvey, the 22nd Governor of South Australia, in 1938.

[22] He was the ancestor to Allaster Edward Cox, Australia's High Commissioner to Brunei Darussalam from 2001 to 2004, who received an audience with Crown Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah.