Henry Fowke Snr. & Jnr.

Photo by Peter Foster.

Coat of Arms

Vert, a fleur-de-lis argent, on a chief; of the second, a lion passant, gules (for Fowke) impaling – argent a saltire sable, in chief and base a crescent sable, within a bordure gules.

By John Dixon MPhil

Historian Brian Linnell emphasised Henry Fowke’s importance in the Tewkesbury Gossip:

Henry, born on Barbados in 1758, the son of another Henry Fowke, had family ties to a Fowke dynasty which had lived in this town since the 16th century. As an attorney, he was a natural for the post of Town Clerk and Coroner, freeman of Tewkesbury and Gloucester, Bailiff seven times, churchwarden and founder shareholder in the market hall and the Tewkesbury and Upton Bank. He married well, to Jane, daughter of George Maxwell of Twyning Manor. All in all, he did rather well in his adopted town.1

Tewkesbury Gossip.


His family had lived in Barbados for many years. His father, another Henry (1726–1788), died in Bridgetown after working as a Searcher in Customs. His mother died there aged in her 90s in 1825.2 His aunt, Ann Fowke, was the sister of Henry Whitaker, “Town Clerk of this Borough thirty-one years.”3

There is some confusion because another Henry Fowke of Barbados, son of Ann, was also born in 1758 but died on the island in 1788.

Henry Fowke of Tewkesbury returned from Barbados by 1782 when he was made a freeman.4 He married Jane Charlotte Maxwell, daughter of the vicar of Twyning Revd. Maxwell-Gumbleton, in 1794. His career progressed in Tewkesbury. In the revolutionary year of 1793, he co-led a petition of loyalty to the monarchy.5

In July 1802, payments by Fowke on behalf of Christopher Codrington at the election were noted.6 When the Oldbury was enclosed in 1811, he purchased 2 acres of land and two allotments.7

He and Jane had three children baptised at Tewkesbury: Anne Rachel, who married Richard Gumbleton and died in 1843, Jane Mary, who married a naval officer, Walter Stocker and died in 1881; and William Henry, who died aged 11 months in 1809. Henry died in 1818 aged 60 and was buried in Tewkesbury Abbey.8

He is listed as an attorney in slave compensation records and connected to a Tobago estate called “Bloody Bay.”9 Possibly, he was the Henry Fowke, merchant of London, acting as trustee of William Whitaker.10

  1. Brian Linnell, Tewkesbury Gossip, 1978, Theoc Press. ↩︎
  2. A Monumental Inscriptions in Barbados, p.28,     <https://ia600402.us.archive.org/21/items/monumentalinscri00olivrich/monumentalinscri00olivrich.pdf> [accessed 4/6/2025]. ↩︎
  3. The Monumental Inscriptions in the Abbey Church, p.104,      <https://tewkesburyhistoricalsociety/The-Abbey> [accessed 4/6/2025]. ↩︎
  4. Tewkesbury Borough Records, ref A4/1–A4/4. ↩︎
  5. J. Bennett, Register & Magazine, Volume II, p. 407, states a “Large Meeting In Town Hall Held In    January Volume 1793 Led By John Embury, Esq., High Sheriff Of Gloucestershire & Henry Fowke, Esq. snr, Town Clerk Proposed Petition of Loyalty to the Monarchical Constitution.” Tewkesbury Historical Society, Woodard Database transcription. ↩︎
  6. Norah Day, 1991, They Used to Live in Tewkesbury: Trace Your Ancestors. p.68. ↩︎
  7. 1811 Enclosure of Oldbury, GRO/Hub Signal, no. 21. ↩︎
  8. Capt. Broud Stocker is not in the compensation database; Gumbletons is not mentioned; there are many Maxwells. All baptisms, marriages and burials from Family Search, <https://ancestors.familysearch.org> [accessed 4 Jun 2025]. ↩︎
  9. Henry Fowke, UCL, Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery,         <https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146634580> [accessed 3 Jun 2025]. ↩︎
  10. The possible link to Whitaker estate is not confirmed. ↩︎