Charles Frederick Fowles was born in Hereford, Herefordshire, England on 15th November 1865, the eldest son of Edward and Susan Fowles (née Gother), of Hereford. His father was an innkeeper and later, a relieving officer. By the time that Charles Fowles was fifteen years old, he had two brothers, Edward Thomas, who was born in 1864, George W., who was born in 1878, and four sisters, Emily Susan, born in 1863, Kate Eleanor, born in 1869, Mary Fanny, born in 1870 and Millie C., born in 1874.
Having served his apprenticeship as a wood carver’s apprentice, he eventually branched out on his own and became a merchant and art dealer. On the 29th April 1887, he married Fannie (or Fanny) Urwick at Strand Registry Office, London. The couple had two children, Gertrude, born in 1887, and Gladys Marie, born in 1889. The marriage was not a happy one as Fannie developed into an alcoholic and the couple entered periods of separation and reconciliation. The final straw for Charles came when Fannie, while staying in Battersea, London, in 1901, seduced a 17-year-old boy named Hewitt Rigg, the son of her landlady! Charles successfully sued for divorce and was granted custody of one of their children.
From 1903, he made frequent visits to the United States of America and eventually settled there, his residence being at Herpley Hall, Central Park, 1, West 64th Street, Manhattan, New York, where he lived with his second wife, Frances May Turner, who he married in Manhattan, New York City, on the 30th January. Frances had also come from Herefordshire, and had lived in Ross-on-Wye, where her father was a bank manager, which is perhaps where Charles Fowles met her. In 1914, he also bought Fairmile Court, in Cobham, Surrey, England. Charles was the treasurer for Scott & Fowles Co., interior decorators.
He and his wife went to New York for the winter, in 1914, arriving from Liverpool on the White Star Liner
Baltic on 13th November and booked return saloon passage on the May sailing of the
Lusitania which was scheduled to sail to Liverpool at 10.00 a.m. on May Day. They arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York harbour on that morning and having boarded, (with ticket number 46078), they were escorted to their accommodation in room B52, which was the personal responsibility of First Class Waiter John Roach, who came from Liverpool and was acting in the capacity of a bedroom steward on what became the liner’s last voyage. The
Lusitania’s sailing was then delayed so that she could embark passengers, some crew and cargo from the Anchor Liner
Cameronia which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war service at the end of April. She finally left the harbour at 12.27p.m..
Just six days later, in the early afternoon of 7th May, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine
U-20 when she was only twelve miles off the southern coast of Ireland and only 250 miles from her home port. Both Mr. and Mrs. Fowles were killed as a result. Charles Fowles was aged 49 years.
His body was eventually recovered from the sea at Inishere, South Arran Islands, on the west coast of Ireland, on Friday June 11th, 1915 over a month after he died. It was initially given the reference number 2, for bodies recovered in the area, but after a positive identification had been made, from cards found on the corpse, it was despatched to Fairmile Court the following day. It was finally laid to rest on 15th June 1915, at Putney Vale Cemetery, London, alongside that of his wife, whose body had been recovered over a month earlier.
Some time after this, property presumably recovered from his corpse, was handed over by the Police at Galway, to a Mr. Travers Browne, at Fairmile Court, who was married to Charles’ daughter, Gertrude Frances Browne. She was one of the two children by his first marriage, the second daughter being Mrs. Gladys Mary Baylies.
Administration of his estate was granted to an attorney, Mr. Lockett Agnew of Messrs. Stevenson Scott on 23rd December 1915, his effects amounting to £12,172-6s-2d, (£12.172.31p).
Waiter Roach, who had looked after the Fowles in room B52, did survive the sinking, however and was eventually able to return to his Liverpool home.
Gladys Baylies later filed a claim for her father’s death which was considered by the Mixed Claims Commission. Even though Charles was a British subject, and he had adequately provided for her in his will, Gladys as an American citizen by marriage, was awarded $10,000. By the time that the Mixed Claims Commission made their ruling in 1925, his other daughter was Mrs. Gertrude Frances French.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, England Select Births and Christenings 1538 – 1975, England & Wales Civil Divorce Records 1858 – 1918, New York Extracted Marriage Index 1866 – 1937, England Select Deaths and Burials 1538 – 1991, Burial Register Putney Vale Cemetery, 1871 Census of England and Wales, 1881 Census of England and Wales, 1891 Census of England and Wales, 1901 Census of England and Wales, 1910 U.S. Federal Census, New York Passenger Lists 1820 - 1957, Cunard Records, Mixed Claims Commission Docket No. 93, Probate Records, Tamworth Herald, Taunton Courier, Surrey Advertiser, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/449, UniLiv. PR13/6, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Lawrence Evans, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.