Beschreibung:

GIBRALTAR -- Lieutenant General Thomas Fowke (d.1765), Governor of Gibraltar (May 1754 - June 1756). Two letter books of Thomas Fowke, 1753 and 1755, the former comprising incoming correspondence and accounts, the latter comprising incoming correspondence and accounts and some copies of outgoing correspondence, the correspondents including Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland (at the War Office), Sir Thomas Robinson George, 4th Earl of Granard, consuls in Cadiz, Madrid, and elsewhere in the Mediterranean, and others, including a number of letters in French, Spanish and Arabic, bound in two volumes, 4to , contemporary sheep-backed boards (worn); together with two documents signed by George III, 1761 and 1762, military commissions for Fowke's son Thomas; and a manuscript plan, n.d. [18th-century], showing the approaches to an unidentified fortification, 205 x 260mm. Provenance : Lt General Thomas Fowke; and by descent. Fowke's appointment as Governor of Gibraltar was announced in May 1753, and the earlier volume includes some papers relating to preparations for his departure, as well as personal accounts and military papers. The volume for 1755 comprises mostly official papers, including documents relating to shipping and customs, to military discipline and appointments, to relations with Morocco, Malaga, Arzila and Tangier, and to the outbreak of war with France; a series of bills relate to repairs to the Governor's House. The letter books include retained copies of letters to Fox Maule, 2nd Baron Panmure, Henry Fox, Sir Thomas Robinson as well as to Francis Aiskell, Consul at Malaga, the Alcaide of Tangier, and others. The best-known incident of Fowke's service as Governor of Gibraltar was his refusal, in May 1756, to reinforce the squadron of the ill-fated Admiral John Byng on its way to attempt the defence of Minorca.