Last Sunday saw the release of the first episode of Miss Austen, an adaptation of Gill Hornby's novel of the same name. The plot revolves around famous author Jane Austen's sister, Cassandra, who has travelled to the Vicarage of Kintbury, Berkshire, to visit the family of her dying friend, the Reverend Fulwar Fowle. An ulterior motive was to find any letters sent to his late wife, Eliza, who had been a childhood friend of Jane and Cassandra.
Who was Fulwar Fowle?
The Reverend Fulwar Craven Fowle was the Vicar of Kintbury, Berkshire and Rector of Elkstone, Gloucestershire (for the differences between a Vicar and Rector see this Austen blog-post). His death took place in March 1840, and was widely reported in local newspapers. The Oxford University and City Herald provided the following detail in its publication of 21st March 1840:
His will was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury on 24th September that same year. This was written in 1830, at which time he had left his estate to his wife Elizabeth - she was 'Eliza,' the close friend of Jane and Cassandra Austen. She had actually predeceased her husband, dying in 1839. Her death was recorded in the Reading Mercury of 1st June 1839.
Alumni records
As an Anglican clergyman, Fulwar would have attended one of the two English universities of either Cambridge or Oxford, and his obituary showed that this was St John's College, Oxford. Both Fulwar Craven Fowle and his son Fulwar William Fowle are listed within the Oxford alumni publication Alumni Oxonienses: The Members of the University of Oxford, 1715-1886:
Who was Isabella Fowle?
After Fulwar's death in 1840, his only family remaining at Kintbury Vicarage was his daughter, Isabella. Her baptism can be found at Kintbury on 21st January 1800. In 1845 she married John Lidderdale. She lived until 1884, and her death was reported in the Marlborough Times on 5th July that year:
Isabella's death took place in Kintbury, where she had spent her entire life.
Further Research
To find out about your own 18th and 19th century ancestors, contact us today for a free quotation to trace your family tree today.
