Thomas Fowler

Thomas Fowler (1 September 1832 – 20 November 1904) was an English academic and academic administrator, acting as President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford.

Early life

Fowler was born 1832 in Burton upon Stather, Lincolnshire, son of William Henry Fowler and his wife, Mary Anne Welch. He was educated at King William's College on the Isle of Man, and obtained a Postmastership (undergraduate) at Merton College, Oxford. 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 a Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford 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 from 1872 to 1874, but moved away from theology. In 1862, he held the office of Junior Proctor, and was selected as Professor of Logic in 1873, holding 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, the Museum, the Common University Fund, and occupying for many years a seat in the Hebdomadal Council.

Fowler was a junior contemporary of men like Benjamin Jowett, Arthur Stanley, Goldwin Smith, Mark Pattison (whom he might have succeeded as Rector of Lincoln), John Matthias Wilson (whom he succeeded as president of Corpus), and Henry Liddell, 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.