Charles Coxen

Charles Coxen (20 April 1809 – 17 May 1876) was a naturalist and politician in Queensland, Australia. He was a Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly. He was a brother-in-law of John Gould who had married his sister Elizabeth. Early life Coxen was born in Ramsgate, Kent, England. He emigrated to New South Wales, Australia, in 1834, to join his elder brother Stephen who had emigrated there seven years previously. During 1834-1835 he travelled through the sparsely settled country between the Hunter and Namoi Rivers, including the Liverpool Plains, collecting specimens of birds and mammals. After gaining experience in pastoral management at his brother's property “Yarrundi” near Scone, Coxen was involved in the management of several properties, first in northern New South Wales and later as one of the early settlers of the Darling Downs region of southern Queensland, along with his nephew Henry Coxen. In 1851 he married Elizabeth Frances Isaac, a woman who, unusually for the times, became known for her studies in meteorology and conchology. In 1862 he helped establish the Queensland Museum in Brisbane, became its first honorary curator and secretary, as well as being a trustee, in association with the explorer Sir Augustus Gregory. He was also a founder of the Queensland Philosophical Society in 1859, the predecessor of the Royal Society of Queensland. His wife Elizabeth became the first woman member of the Royal Society of Queensland.