Sir Robert Bowes of South Cowton

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Robert Bowes, Knight, MP

Birthdate:
Death: 1555
Immediate Family:

Son of Sir Ralph Bowes, of Streatlam and Margery Bowes
Husband of Alice Bowes
Brother of Richard Bowes, Esq.; John Bowes and Sir Ralph Bowes of Streatlam & Dalden

Managed by: Erica Howton
Last Updated:

About Sir Robert Bowes of South Cowton

BOWES, Robert (by 1497-1555), of South Cowton, Yorks. and London.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bowes_(lawyer)

Sir Robert Bowes (1495?-1554) was an English lawyer and military commander.

Life

He was son of Sir Ralph Bowes and Marjory Conyers of South Cowton, Yorkshire, and studied law in his early years; but his ancestral connection with the Border country marked him out for employment in border affairs, where he did active service. In 1536 he was in the royal army against the Pilgrimage of Grace, and carried to the king the petition of the rebels. In 1541 he was specially summoned to London to advise the privy council about Scottish business. In 1542 he accompanied Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk on his plundering raid into Scotland, and was sent with 3,000 men to harry Jedburgh. He was attacked on his way at the Battle of Haddon Rig, and was made prisoner, but soon released. In 1550 he was made warden of the east and middle marches.

In June 1551 he was one of the commissioners appointed to make a convention with Scotland. In the following September he was made a member of the privy council, and next year he was appointed master of the rolls.

His signature is affixed as one of the witnesses of Edward VI's will, and he was a member of the short-lived council of the Lady Jane Grey. The council soon found its position to be impossible. On 19 July 1553 Bowes signed a letter to Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich on Jane's behalf. On 20 July he signed an order to John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland bidding him disarm. On the accession of Queen Mary Bowes was not disgraced. He held office as master of the rolls for two months, and then resigned of his own accord. In 1554 he was ordered by the privy council to repair to Berwick and assist John Conyers, 3rd Baron Conyers in organising the defences of the border. Soon after his return from this duty he died. He married Alice, daughter of Sir James Metcalfe of Nappa, North Yorkshire, but left no surviving children.

Works

In his office of Warden he left a record of his administrative capacity. At the request of the warden general, Henry Grey, Marquess of Dorset, he drew up A Book of the State of the Frontiers and Marches betwixt England and Scotland. This record is the chief authority for the state of the border country in the sixteenth century. It describes the nature of the land, its military organisation, the condition of the fortresses, the number of the garrisons, and information about the character of the borderers. A lawyer as well as a soldier, he added to his survey of the country a legal treatise on the administration of the complicated system of international law by which disputes between the borderers of England and Scotland were settled. His treatise of The Forme and Order of a Day of Truce explains the formalities to be used in the execution of justice in the combined court of the wardens of England and Scotland.

Bowes's Survey of the Border is printed in John Crawford Hodgson's History of Northumberland, where, besides the survey of 1551, there is given in the note an earlier one of 1542 made by Bowes and Sir Ralph Elleker, which is more detailed. It was also printed in Reprints of Rare Tracts, vol. iv. (Newcastle, 1849), and in a private issue of the Border Club, 1838. The Form of Holding a Day of Truce is partially printed in the same issue of the Border Club, and extracts are given in James Raine's History of North Durham. A manuscript copy of both the Survey and Forme may be still found in the bodleian library, having been reprinted in M. A. Richardsons 'reprints of rare tracts'

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From House of Parliament online

Family and Education

b. by 1497, 3rd s. of Sir Ralph Bowes of Streatlam, co. Dur. by Margery, da. and coh. of Sir Richard Conyers of South Cowton. educ. L. Inn, adm. 4 May 1511. m. Alice, da. of Sir James Metcalfe of Nappa, nr. Richmond, Yorks., 4 or 5s. d.v.p. Kntd. by 8 July 1540.4

Bowes’s children all died in infancy and his heirs (whose wardship he had been granted in 1548) were the three daughters of his nephew George Bowes, but under the terms of the use created by his mother the manor of South Cowton descended to his brother Richard.11

Biographical excerpt

In 1512, under his father’s will, Robert Bowes inherited lands worth £10 a year in county Durham, and on the death of his mother in 1524 he acquired a life interest in her manor of South Cowton, which he made his residence. By profession a lawyer, he was also versed in border warfare and throughout his life he alternated between the two callings.6. ....

... He was again summoned to attend in the Lords as master of the rolls in a Parliament called for September 1553, but the death of Edward VI cancelled the summons. He signed the letters patent devising the crown away from Mary and Elizabeth and the letter of 19 July from the Council to Lord Rich urging him to remain true to Queen Jane, and although he went back on this the next day by signing the Council’s order to the Duke of Northumberland to disarm he was too seriously compromised to be kept in office. He was replaced as master of the rolls before 14 Aug. 1553.

Citations

  • 6. Durham 3/3/12; C142/102/46; LP Hen. VIII, iii.
  • 11. APC, iv. 357, 366-7, 381; v. 7, 15, 95; C142/102/46; Wills and Inventories, i. (Surtees Soc. ii), 145; CPR, 1548-9, p. 1
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