Fox Senior had been a member of the Legislative Council, the upper house in the bicameral system of government under which Newfoundland operated in the period between 1855 and 1934.

He then resigned Legislative Council to run in a by-election to fill a seat after Dr. John Dearin had died suddenly.

Fox won the seat making him the first person elected to the House of Assembly under the new Manhood Suffrage Act of 1890.

He also participated in what is regarded as Newfoundland's earliest recorded hockey game in February 1896 on Quidi Vidi lake in the capital city of St.

He was manager of the Prince of Wale's Rink and had just returned home after helping prepare the ice for a planned hockey match that evening.