BOWES, William (1657-1707), of Streatlam Castle, co. Dur.

Bowes’s ancestors had held Streatlam since the reign of Edward III and produced an MP for Appleby in 1362. Between 1645 and 1648 his father was appointed to several local parliamentary commissions, but he assisted the Scots in the second Civil War and was fined £456. Any losses at this time were more than made good by the prudent management of Bowes’s mother during his minority. He was returned with his kinsman Thomas Fetherstonhalgh to the second and third Exclusion Parliaments with clerical support, though they were described by a local nonconformist as neither Protestants nor enemies to Popery; but he left no trace on the records of either Parliament. He served on the grand jury which produced a loyal address in August 1681, and took an active part in searching for suspects after the Rye House Plot. Despite his efforts to secure nomination by Sir Leoline Jenkins as court candidate, he did not stand in 1685, but his loyalty was recognized by the grant of the rangership of Teesdale. After the Revolution he lost his office to Christopher Vane. He regained his seat in 1695, and, though a Tory, signed the Association. He died on 7 Feb. 1707 and was buried at Barnard Castle. A younger son represented the county as a Whig from 1727 to 1760.3Surtees, 101, 107-8; CSP Dom. 1648-9, p. 341; 1680-1, p. 386; July-Sept. 1683, pp. 50-51, 435, Cal. Comm. Comp. 203; Royalist Comps. (Surtees Soc. cxi), 125; C. E. Whiting, Nathaniel, Lord Crewe, 116-17; Sharp mss 82/10; E. Hughes, N. Country Life in 18th Cent. i. 231-42.