Fowke began his military career in 1702 during the
War of the Spanish Succession as an
Ensign in Nicholas Lepell's Regiment of Foot. He became captain in June 1707,
Peregrine Lascelles, who later served with him in the
1745 Rising, being a colleague. In 1710, Lepell's was posted to
Spain, but despite victories at
Almenar and
Saragossa, suffered heavy casualties in the defeat at
Villaviciosa in December. Lepell, by then the senior British officer in
Catalonia, reported losses of 107 men after the battle. arriving at Berwick after
Prestonpans Villaviciosa ended the campaign in Spain, and Lepells was disbanded in November 1712 as the army was reduced prior to the 1713
Peace of Utrecht. Fowke managed to retain his commission, transferring into
Whetham's, later 27th Foot, before joining
Cotton's Foot in 1716 as a Major. In June 1722, he became Lieutenant-Colonel of
Kerr's Dragoons. Following the outbreak of the
War of the Austrian Succession in 1740, Fowke was promoted to Colonel of the
43rd Foot. He exchanged into the
Queen's Royal Regiment, then based in
Scotland, and was promoted
Brigadier General in June 1745, three months before the
Jacobite rising of 1745. He served as deputy to
Sir John Cope, military commander in Scotland, at
Prestonpans in September, where their army collapsed in a battle lasting less than 15 minutes. Fowke's two regiments of dragoons fled without firing a shot, and halted only when they reached
Berwick-upon-Tweed. He, Cope and Lascelles were later tried by a
court-martial in 1746, and although all three were exonerated, Cope never held command again. ;
Byng was executed in March 1757, Fowke dismissed Fowke was posted to
Flanders and became a
Major General in 1747, shortly before the
1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle followed by his appointment as
Governor of Gibraltar in 1752. The opening action of the
Seven Years' War was the British naval defeat at
Minorca in June 1756, an event that led to the trial and execution of Admiral
John_Byng. Fowke was also court martialled for allegedly refusing to provide Byng with soldiers from the Gibraltar garrison. He was originally sentenced to nine months suspension, but
George II insisted he be dismissed. Contemporaries felt he and Byng had been unfairly singled out, a 1757 Parliamentary committee noting the poor state of the island's defences, with over 35 senior officers absent from their posts, including the governor and colonels of all four regiments in its garrison. This ended Fowke's career, although
George III reinstated his rank in 1761. He died in
Bath, Somerset in March 1765. ==Legacy==