William Fowle Esq of Chute Lodge, Durrington, and Chalrton, High Sheriff of Wiltshire (1770-1840)

Born in the estate of Charlton, Wiltshire. Educated at St. John's College, Oxford. Served as High Sheriff of Wiltshire. Inherited the Charlton, Durrington, and Chute Lodge estates. Married Harriet Everett of Biddesden House, daughter of Thomas Everett MP. Alumni Oxoniensis says this of William: ‘Fowle, William, s. Henry, of Charlton, Wilts, arm. ST. JOHN’S COLL., matric. 6 Feb., age 17; B.A. 1791. M.A. 1796.’ In relation to William Fowle’s education, we know that he was invited to an 1815 reunion of former pupils at the Salisbury Cathedral Choir School. On 15 June 1799 William Fowle of Charlton and Durrington (and, from 1804, Chute Lodge) 1770-1840, married at St Giles-in-the-Fields, Harriet Everett 1777-1842. Harriet was daughter of Thomas Everett MP of Biddesden House and 19 Bedford Square. William left Durrington (where his sister Sarah continued to live) and he and Harriet went to live at Goddard’s Cottage, Amport, Hants – about 6 miles from Biddesden. The marriage on 15 June 1799 at St Giles-in-the-Fields of William Fowle and Harriet Everett is evidenced by the entry in the Parish Register and by reports in The Times and the Salisbury & Winchester Journal. William inherited the remainder of Jamaica Fowle’s estate on his father’s 1803 death. William acquired the Chute Lodge estate from Mr Strickland Freeman for £27,500 in 1804. The Chute Lodge acquisition was fraught. Harriet was clearly anxious to be a neighbour of her Everett family at Biddesden. The Biddesden and Chute Lodge estates marched with each other. Strickland Freeman, owner of Chute Lodge and the Chute Lodge estate, came from a very wealthy family, with other major properties, having apparently been involved with the East India Company. William Fowle and Freeman agreed on the sale and purchase, but then Freeman reneged. The matter was litigated and was determined in Fowle’s favour, as explained below. William and Harriet lived in wealth and comfort at Chute Lodge for 34 years until William’s 1840 death; Harriett died in 1842. William seems generally to have led the life of a prosperous pater familias landowner. He was a JP and was High Sheriff in 1813.