William Charles Cox A rare manuscript map by a Plymouth optician and instrument maker Many highly successful people in their own field often do not receive the recognition they deserve. W C Cox, a little-known instrument maker in Devonport, is one of them. Although William Charles Cox was born in London on September 10, 1786, [i] he was certainly trading as an optician and scientific instrument maker in Plymouth from the mid-1800s, as Taylor records him in 1806 in Plymouth Dock, Devon . [ii] Although t here is no entry for Cox in the 1810 - 1819 section of Taylor, “Cox & Co., opticians” are listed in Fore Street, Devonport in the P icture of Plymouth of 1812. [iii] It is conceivable that if W C Cox was only twenty years old, he was in business with his father or other relative. On the 1st January 1824 Plymouth Dock was renamed Devonport, and William Charles Cox is an “Optical and Philosophical Instrument Maker” (fl 1820) in Fore Street, Devonport at this time. [iv]