John Gower, shoemaker, was the son of Thomas Gower, cordwainer, and Sarah Gower. J Gower, cordwainer, age range 17-30, again very probably the same man, was "Inrolled" in the Volunteer Militia, in the Militia list of 1803 for Lindfield, during the big invasion scare (Napoleon). Thomas Gower, cordwainer, aged under 55, probably John's father, was "Willing to serve".
From 1809 to 1815 John Gower, probably the same man, is listed in the Land Taxes in the January 1810 Poor Rate) as a tenant, with William Russell and then Edward Batchelor (blacksmith) of the cottage(s) that stood on the northern corner of Denman's Lane, before "Arnold Terrace" was built in the 1850s (41-47 High St including Standup Inn).
As “John Gower senior” he appears in the rates and assessments from 1825, when he was living as a tenant of Peter Pierce in the northern (smaller) half of Crosskeys. His father Thomas had a house and shoemaker’s shop in the southern (larger) part of Crosskeys, also as a tenant. John was presumably working for his father.
Upon Thomas’s death about 1828, initially Thomas’s widow Sarah was tenant of Crosskeys north, but by 1834 John had moved there and into the shop. He was there in the 1841 Census, 1842 and 1843 poor rates, and 1845 Tithe Assessment (plot 645); he moved from Crosskeys in 1845/6 (Land Taxes). By 1849 Charles Westbrook, saddler and harness maker, had moved in, and John had moved to 4, Pelham Place Cottages, where he was still living in 1855. 4
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Men like cobbler John Gower of Lindfield, 1779-1857, renowned as a local historian and champion of working-class causes... 5
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In his father’s Will (written 1823), John was bequeathed all his tools and implements of trade along with his stock of leather.
At the time of the 1841 England Census John Gower, aged about 60, shoemaker, and wife Sarah, aged about 52, were living in Town, Lindfield, Sussex. With them were children: Jeremiah (15), Elizabeth (13), and William (25), shoemaker
At the time of the 1851 England Census John Gower, aged 72, born in Lindfield Sussex, widower, cordwainer, was living at 4 Pelham Place Lindfield Sussex. With him were son Jeremiah (29), born in Brighton, unmarried, bricklayer's labourer, daughter Elizabeth (21), born in Lindfield, schoolmistress, grandson Alfred W.* (15), born in Ardingly Sussex.
* Alfred William Gower was a witness at the marriage of his cousin Catherine Ann Lawless to George Benjamin Beck in Apr 1873 in Brighton Sussex.
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John Gower died aged 78 years.
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THE REMAINS OF JOHN GOWER were deposited on Wednesday last in the new Cemetery on Walsted Common. They were followed to the grave by his three sons, his two daughters, and numerous other relations and friends, including Mr. Humphrey, Mr. Mills, Mr. Beard, Mr. C. Fleet, &c. It was a matter of regret that the body of so old a parishioner, whose family had been settled at Lindfield above 300 years, was not interred in the old church yard, with that of his wife and a long line of ancestors....
Sussex Advertiser, 29 Sep 1857, p. 6
LINDFIELD
Died on Thursday, the 17th instant, at 4, Pelham Place, Lindfield, in the 79th year of his age. Mr. John Gower, an old and much respected inhabitant, whose decease is lamented as being, in some respects, an irreparable public loss. No man was better known in the neighbourhood; and there was no man who could be better trusted for exact information on all matters of local interest. As reporter for the provincial and Brighton press, and as possessed of an amazing fund of historic facts connected with Lindfield, its people and its institutions, he commanded the deference and enjoyed the esteem of all classes. The wealthiest and the wisest of his neighbourhood felt no hesitation in consulting the opinions of John Gower, and in allowing him the free social intercourse with themselves. Often has the Lindfield visitor found in him an unwearying guide on all points touching the peculiarities of the parish, its ecclesiastical difficulties, —which have not been few, —and its wonderful progress of late years in physical and intellectual improvement. In the course of his long life, he had served several offices, including those of constable and clerk; and, though not an educated man, the singular depth of his intelligence, the firmness of his purpose in mental application, and the quickness of his perception more than made up for his want of scholarly accomplishments. He was indeed quite a character. He had his frailties, but almost all of them leaned to virtue’s side, and though at times he would appear capricious and conceited, it was after all, a very excusable pride which John Gower exhibited when he related how he, though only an illiterate, hard-working cobbler, was honoured to sit up and take part with the celebrated William Allen in his astronomical observations, and how some of the best archæologists of the day called on him, and besought him to aid their researches. In fine, John was a diamond in the rough, an uncultured philosopher, and though it is said, “Let not the shoemaker go beyond his last,” he made no mistake in going beyond his last; and the old adage, “materiem superabat opus,” was never better verified than when he, the poor cobbling clerk of Lindfield, constructed his own telescopes, sketched his own maps, and set up as the historian of his time.
Brighton Gazette, 24 Sep 1857, p. 7
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