FOWKE, John (?1612-57), of Drogheda and Ardee, co. Louth.

The Fowkes of Brewood were among the leading gentry families of Staffordshire, and had many cadet branches. Colonel John Fowke must not be confused with his namesake and relative, Alderman John Fowke of London, or his distant cousins, John Fowke of Dublin and Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Foulke*, the MP for Cork and Youghal in 1659.18Ire. under the Commonwealth, i. 66n; NLI, MS GO 160, pp. 79-80; Burke’s Landed Gentry of Ire. (1909), 581. Fowke’s identity is revealed in a certificate of arms, drawn up in Dublin in 1647, in which he was described as being ‘son and heir to John Fowke, third son to Roger Fowke, third son to Fowke of Brewood’.19NLI, GO MS 45, p. 63. He may have been the John Fowke baptized in 1612 at Bobbington, a few parishes distant from Brewood. Fowke served in England during the first civil war, as captain with Anthony Hungerford, based at Stokesay Castle in Shropshire, and later as major of the same regiment.20Brereton Letter Bks. 317. In April 1647, when Hungerford raised a foot regiment in the west midlands to serve in the Irish wars, Fowke agreed to return with him, and was promoted to lieutenant-colonel; his major was William Aston*. Fowke was with the regiment when it mustered at Dublin in May, before marching to garrison Drogheda.21HMC Ormonde, o.s. i. 199; TCD MS 844, f. 45; NLI, GO MS 45, pp. 63, 67. Fowke became governor of Drogheda when Hungerford returned to England in 1648, and when Drogheda was besieged by the royalist forces of Lord Inchiquin in June 1649 he soon surrendered the town, on condition that the remnant of his men be allowed to march back to Dublin unharmed.22Carte, Life of Ormond, iii. 455.

In July 1649, Fowke was promoted to colonel of his own regiment of foot, which was recruited in England in the next 18 months.23SP63/281, unfol.; CSP Dom. 1650, pp. 522, 596. In 1651 Fowke resumed his duties as governor of Drogheda, which encouraged his involvement in civil affairs, notably the land settlement of co. Louth.24Ire. under the Commonwealth, i. 12, 66. A series of civil appointments followed: in November 1651 he was made a justice of the peace for Leinster by Colonel John Hewson*; in December 1652 he became commissioner for the high court of justice at Dublin; and in November 1653 he was appointed to a committee advising on measures against the Irish still in arms.25TCD, MS 844, ff. 110, 136; Eg. 1762, f. 52v. This last appointment coincided with the disbandment of Fowke’s regiment, although he had recently been confirmed in his post as governor of Drogheda.26Wanklyn, New Model Army, ii. 216; Eg. 1762, f. 207. With the creation of the protectorate, Fowke’s involvement with local affairs increased further: in January 1654 he was among those officers chosen to set out 19,000 acres in Louth to satisfy military arrears; by April he was engaged in the difficult task of evicting the Irish inhabitants; and in the autumn he was appointed assessment commissioner for Meath and Louth.27Ire. under the Commonwealth, ii. 394, 422; An Assessment for Ire. It was no doubt as a result of his local standing that Fowke was elected to represent cos. Meath and Louth in August 1654, in tandem with the co. Meath landowner and former governor of Trim, William Cadogan*.28Mercurius Politicus no. 219 (17-24 Aug. 1654), 3709 (E.809.5). He attended the session, but was named to only two committees, to consider the bill for scandalous ministers and the reduction of the armed forces, on 25 and 26 September respectively.29CJ vii. 370a, 370b. Fowke had returned to Ireland by the spring of 1655, when he joined the small group of officers which formed the court-martial for the transplantation of the Irish nationwide.30Ire. under the Commonwealth, ii. 490. In July he was a signatory of the officers’ order appointing attorneys to lobby for their pay arrears with the government.31Hist. of the Down Survey ed. T.A. Larcom (Dublin, 1851), 79. His subscription of the Irish officers’ petition to the protector (asking for the promotion of both Charles Fleetwood* and Henry Cromwell* within the Dublin administration) in January 1656 points to Fowke’s continuing influence within the army.32TSP iv. 421-2. Once again, it was his local position which seems to have ensured his re-election for Meath and Louth in August 1656, alongside his old comrade, William Aston.33Ire. under the Commonwealth, ii. 624n.

In the early months of the second protectorate Parliament, Fowke was highly regarded by Lord Deputy Fleetwood, who described him as ‘a person that hath highly merited respect from the public’.34Lansdowne 821, f. 306. As the session continued, however, Fowke became increasingly distanced from Fleetwood and the army interest, and associated instead with Henry Cromwell’s allies in the Commons. He was named to the committee for Irish affairs on 23 September, and in later months was appointed to a series of committees to examine the petitions of Anthony Morgan* (10 Nov.), Sir Theophilus Jones* (16 Feb.), Viscount Loftus of Ely (21 Feb.), Viscount Moore of Drogheda (4 June) and Lord Broghill (Roger Boyle*)(5 June), as well as that to consider parliamentary orders granting estates to various Old Protestants, including Sir Charles Coote* and the late Michael Jones.35CJ vii. 427a, 452a, 491b, 494b, 526b, 545a, 546a. In these committees, Fowke served alongside close associates of Henry Cromwell, such as William Aston, Anthony Morgan and Lord Broghill, and during the debates on the Humble Petition and Advice in March and April 1657, he collaborated with the same group. On 25 March he voted in favour of retaining the offer of the crown in the first article, and on 27 March he was appointed to the committee to wait on the protector to arrange a time to present the new constitution to him.36Narrative of the Late Parliament (1657), 23 (E.935.5); CJ vii. 514a. After the protector had expressed his unwillingness to accept the Humble Petition in its monarchical form, on 7 April Fowke was named to the committee which attended the protector concerning the Commons’ endorsement of the constitution as it stood, and two days later he was appointed to the committee to consider Cromwell’s doubts and scruples.37CJ vii. 514a, 521a, 521b.

In the days after the adjournment of the parliamentary session, Fowke fell ill. When he wrote his will, on 23 August, he was ‘sick of body but of good and perfect memory’, and was able to make careful provision for his extended family, including his wife and elderly mother. In an extraordinary move, Fowke stipulated that if his children died without heirs, the whole estate would pass to Henry Cromwell II. Henry was also made executor of the will, along with William Aston.38PROB11/272/371. Fowke was dead shortly after writing his will, and certainly before November 1657, when his mother wrote to Henry Cromwell to apologise for ‘the great presumption in the deceased person to tender what he did’; to thank him for his ‘condescension’ in accepting the care of her grandson; and to insist that Fowke had been ‘a person who would have ventured life and fortune in and for your service’.39Henry Cromwell Corresp. 347-8. The extent of the estate Fowke left for his son to enjoy is unclear. In February 1657 he had petitioned the protectoral council for the confirmation of 500 acres at Loughlinstown in co. Dublin, and received the backing of Lord Deputy Fleetwood, but it is uncertain whether the land was ever granted.40CSP Dom. 1656-7, p. 282; Lansdowne 821, f. 306. Similarly, he was granted debentures in co. Waterford to cover his pay arrears, but he had apparently sold these to Sir John Reynolds*.41TSP vi. 761. The family was resident at Ardee in co. Louth in the autumn of 1657, and after the Restoration held lands in the area: these had almost certainly been acquired by Fowke during the 1650s.42Henry Cromwell Corresp. 348; Down Survey website. Fowke was succeeded by his son, also John, who served as poll money commissioner and sheriff of co. Louth in 1660 and 1661, and was implicated in Colonel Blood’s plot against the Dublin regime in May 1663.43Irish census, 1659, 623, 641; CSP Ire. 1663-4, pp. 265-6; 1660-70, p. 454.