Background
The son of the Review Foote Gower, Master of Arts and Doctor of Medicine, a physician in Chester, he was born there about 1726.
The son of the Review Foote Gower, Master of Arts and Doctor of Medicine, a physician in Chester, he was born there about 1726.
He matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford, 15 March 1744, aged 18, and took his degrees of Bachelor of Arts in 1747, Master of Arts in 1750, Bachelor of Medicine in 1755, and Doctor of Medicine in 1757. He was elected a Fellow of his college in 1750. lieutenant is unclear whether Gower practised as a physician.
He was rector of Chignal Street James and Mashbury, near Chelmsford in Essex, from June 1761 until about 1777.
He also held the living of Woodham Walter, where the patron was Thomas Fytche. Gower employed Joseph Strutt to make engravings of Roman antiquities.
He died at Bath, Somerset on 27 May 1780. Gower"s many papers passed into the hands of Doctor Markham of Whitechapel, and subsequently the project was taken up by Doctor J. Wilkinson and William Latham, who, in 1800, republished the Sketch with additions.
In the end the manuscripts were disposed of by auction, some going to the British Museum and others to the Bodleian Library.
In the longer term, Gower"s work served to document the sources for Cheshire local history. George Ormerod exploited it thoroughly, having made contact with William Latham through his father-in-law John Latham (1761–1843) (not a close relation). Their son Charles Gower Doctor of Medicine (died 1822) was author of Hints and Auxiliaries to Medicine, 1819.
The youngest son was Richard Hall Gower the naval architect.
Gower married a sister of John Strutt, Member of Parliament for Maldon.