John Fownes, MP

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

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715 Author: Eveline Cruickshanks Notes 1. Vivian, Vis. Devon, 373. 2. Trans. Devon Assoc. lxxxv. 78–79. 3. Ibid.; Vivian, 373.

• "FOWNES, John (c.1661-1731), of Kittery Court, Devon", The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002