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FOWNES, John (c.1661-1731), of Kittery Court, Devon
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Constituency
Dates
Family and Education
b. c.1661, 1st s. of John Fownes of Whitleigh, Devon by Mary, da. of Henry Northleigh† of Peamore, Devon, sis. of Henry Northleigh*. educ. Exeter, Oxf. matric. 5 May 1679, aged 18. m. 23 Aug. 1681, Anne, da. of Edward Yarde† of Churston Ferrers, Devon, sis. of Edward Yarde*, 3s. (2 d.v.p.) 3da. (1 d.v.p.). suc. fa. 1670.1
Offices Held
Freeman, Dartmouth 1701.2
Biography
Fownes, who was descended from a line of aldermen and mayors of Plymouth, moved after his marriage to Kittery Court, a fine house in the vicinity of Dartmouth, and in 1701 was admitted a freeman of that borough (an ‘honorary not a trading freeman’) as part of a mass creation of freemen to build up a rival interest in Dartmouth to that of the Herne family. But it was not until a by-election in 1714 that he stood for Parliament there, as a High Tory, in opposition to the Hanoverian Tory Frederick Herne*, whom he defeated. His son John succeeded him in the seat in 1715, keeping out on that occasion Frederick’s brother Nathaniel Herne*. Fownes himself died on 4 Oct. 1731 and was buried at Brixham.3