Possibly he was the John Bowe who, with his wife Sarah, was sued for trespass by the abbot of Dunkes-well (north Devon), and in 1402 sought royal pardon for this offence. Then again, he may have been the John Bowe employed as notary public by the bishop of Bath and Wells from about 1408 until after 1415.1CPR, 1401-5, p. 76; HMC Wells, ii. 47; Som. Med. Wills (Som. Rec. Soc. xvi), 63; Reg. Bubwith (ibid. xxix), 195, 204.
We of are on firm ground with Bowe’s appointment in December 1421 to collect the parliamentary subsidies which he, as a Member of the Commons, had recently voted. Although he was never, apparently, returned to Parliament again, he was one of the delegates sent from Taunton to the shire court at Ilchester to report the results of the borough elections of 1422, 1425, 1426, 1427, 1429, 1431 and 1432.2C219/13/1, 3-5, 14/1-3.