page_title: Thomas Fowke
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Thomas Fowke / Legacy
context_page_description: Lieutenant General Thomas Fowke, also spelt Foulks, circa 1690 to 29 March 1765, was a British military officer of the 18th century. He was Governor of Gibraltar from 1753 to 1756, and twice court-martialled during his service.
  The first followed defeat at Prestonpans in the 1745 Jacobite Rising, when he was acquitted. As Governor of Gibraltar, he was court-martialled again for his part in the 1756 Battle of Minorca, a defeat that led to the execution of Admiral Byng.
  Sentenced to nine months suspension, despite minimal responsibility for the defeat, George II insisted he be dismissed from the army. This ended his career, although he was reinstated as Lieutenant General following the accession of George III in 1761. He died in Bath in March 1765.
  Fowke's great-uncle emigrated to Virginia in 1651, and he was closely related to George Mason, 1725 to 1792, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Mason built a house he named Gunston Hall, after the family home in Gunstone, South Staffordshire; it is now an historic monument.
context_section_description: In 1651, Thomas Fowke's great-uncle Gerard moved to Virginia, along with his cousin, Philip Mason; one of their descendants was George Mason (1725–1792), a US Founding Father. In 1755, he commemorated his family roots by building a new house in Virginia named Gunston Hall; in 1923, another Mason built a second Gunston Hall, in North Carolina.
  Fowke kept a personal journal and record of correspondence; his papers for the period 1752 to 1755, including his time as Governor of Gibraltar, were acquired by in 2015 by the Lewis Walpole Library, part of Yale University.
  After his retirement, he lived near Park Hill, Yorkshire, now the site of the Park Hill estate, Sheffield, which was given listed building status in 1998.
caption: Gunston Hall, Virginia, named after Fowke's family home
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