Captain Maxwell Fox was born in 1826, the son of Major Barry Fox and Sophy Fox of Longford. Fox was educated at Eton, and subsequently entered the Royal Navy. He served under Commodore Lambert on board the battleship, Serpent at the bombardment of Rangoon in the Burma War of 1853, for which he was awarded a gold medal. He retired with the rank of captain in 1864, a year after his father’s death, and returned to Ireland to manage his estates, and assumed residence at Annaghmore House.
Fox married Florence Jane, eldest daughter of Sir Andrew Buchanan, Bart. Following her death in 1882, he married secondly in 1886, Edith Edgeworth of Kilshrewly, eldest daughter of Rev. Essex Edgeworth. He served on the visiting committee of Tullamore gaol, and as an ex-officio guardian of the Tullamore Workhouse. In 1868 he assumed the office of High Sheriff. Maxwell Fox sold up his own farm in 1896, prior to his departure from Annaghmore, and died suddenly at Foxhall, County Longford on 14 September 1899.