Thomas Fowler (1 September 1832 – 20 November 1904), was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 academic and academic administrator, acting as President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford

Corpus Christi College, Oxford

Corpus Christi College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom...

, and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford.

Early life

Fowler was born 1832 in Burton upon Stather

Burton upon Stather

Burton-upon-Stather is a village and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England. The village lies 5 miles north from Scunthorpe, 5 miles north-west from Frodingham, and is near the east bank of the River Trent...

, Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

, son of William Henry Fowler and his wife, Mary Anne Welch. He was educated at King William's College

King William's College

King William's College is a leading world International Baccalaureate HMC independent school for ages 3 to 18, situated near Castletown on the Isle of Man...

 on the Isle of Man

Isle of Man

The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...

, and obtained a Postmastership (undergraduate) at Merton College, Oxford

Merton College, Oxford

Merton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor to Henry III and later to Edward I, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to...

. In 1852, he took a second class in Classical moderations and a first class in mathematics, but he bettered that position in the final schools by taking a first class in classics followed by a first in mathematics in 1854.

Academic career

In 1855, Fowler was elected to a Fellowship in Lincoln College, Oxford

Lincoln College, Oxford

Lincoln College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is situated on Turl Street in central Oxford, backing onto Brasenose College and adjacent to Exeter College...

 and was forthwith appointed tutor. In 1858, he obtained the Denyer Theological Prize for an essay on "The Doctrine of Predestination according to the Church of England"; he was appointed a Select Preacher in 1872–74, but moved away from theology. In 1862, he held the office of Junior Proctor

Proctor

Proctor, a variant of the word procurator, is a person who takes charge of, or acts for, another. The word proctor is frequently used to describe someone who oversees an exam or dormitory.The title is used in England in three principal senses:...

, and in 1873 he was selected Professor of Logic

Logic

In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...

, and held that chair until 1889. He officiated as a public examiner in the classical school on many occasions between 1864 and 1879, and took part in the general business of Oxford University, holding office in connection the Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...

, the Museum, the Common University Fund, and occupying for many years a seat in the Hebdomadal Council

Hebdomadal Council

The Hebdomadal Council was the chief executive body for the University of Oxford from its establishment in 1854 until its replacement, in the Michaelmas term of 2000, by the new University Council...

.

Fowler was a junior contemporary of men like Benjamin Jowett

Benjamin Jowett

Benjamin Jowett was renowned as an influential tutor and administrative reformer in the University of Oxford, a theologian and translator of Plato. He was Master of Balliol College, Oxford.-Early career:...

, Arthur Stanley

Arthur Stanley

Sir Arthur Stanley, GCVO, GBE, CB was a British Conservative politician.Born Hon. Arthur Stanley, he was the third son of Frederick Stanley, Lord Stanley and travelled to Canada with his father on the latter's appointment as Governor General of Canada in 1888, becoming an ice hockey player and a...

, Goldwin Smith

Goldwin Smith

Goldwin Smith was a British-Canadian historian and journalist.- Early years :He was born at Reading, Berkshire. He was educated at Eton College and Magdalen College, Oxford, and after a brilliant undergraduate career he was elected to a fellowship at University College, Oxford...

, Mark Pattison

Mark Pattison

Mark Pattison was an English author and a Church of England priest. He served as Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford.-Life:...

, whom he might have succeeded as Rector of Lincoln, John Matthias Wilson, whom he succeeded as President of Corpus, and Dr Henry Liddell

Henry Liddell

Henry George Liddell was Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, dean of Christ Church, Oxford, headmaster of Westminster School , author of A History of Rome , and co-author of the monumental work A Greek-English Lexicon, which is still used by students of Greek...

, sometime Dean of Christ Church. He belonged to their school of University politics, on the Liberal side in the conflicts of the time, and he took part in the struggle for the abolition of University tests.

He enjoyed university business, and was not a profound and original thinker. He had the gift of writing lucid and scholarly English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

. His works included two volumes on Deductive and Inductive Logic respectively, which have passed through many editions, and are, in the main, a reproduction for Oxford use of the logical system of John Stuart Mill

John Stuart Mill

John Stuart Mill was a British philosopher, economist and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of...

; an elaborate edition of Francis Bacon's Novum Organon, with introduction and notes' an edition of Locke's Conduct of the Understanding; monographs on John Locke

John Locke

John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...

, Bacon and Shaftesbury

Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury

Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury was an English politician, philosopher and writer.-Biography:...

 and Hutcheson

Francis Hutcheson (philosopher)

Francis Hutcheson was a philosopher born in Ireland to a family of Scottish Presbyterians who became one of the founding fathers of the Scottish Enlightenment....

; Progressive Morality, an Essay in Ethics; and The Principles of Morality, an important and original work, which incorporates as much of the thought of J. M. Wilson as Wilson ever managed to put on paper. The work is Fowler's own, but it was largely inspired by Wilson, and in some few parts it was written by him.

In 1886, he was awarded a Bachelor

Bachelor of Divinity

In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity is usually an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology or, rarely, religious studies....

 and Doctor of Divinity

Doctor of Divinity

Doctor of Divinity is an advanced academic degree in divinity. Historically, it identified one who had been licensed by a university to teach Christian theology or related religious subjects....

.

President of Corpus

In 1881, Fowler was elected, rather unexpectedly, to succeed Professor John Matthias Wilson as President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford

Corpus Christi College, Oxford

Corpus Christi College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom...

. He wrote its history in a well-researched volume displaying much patient research which was published by the Oxford Historical Society. He was Vice-Chancellor from 1899 to 1901. His health then failed, and he died unmarried at 12.30 p.m. on 21 November 1904, in his 73rd year.

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