Edwin Wesley Howard FOWLES

FOWLES, EDWIN WESLEY HOWARD (b. Oxley (near Brisbane), Qld, 1871; d. 1945). Lawyer, Methodist musician.

E W H Fowles was initially educated by his father and then at the Brisbane Grammar School. He studied arts and law at Melbourne University, and was awarded the Gold Medal in classics. Fowles spent a period of time as a teacher before being admitted to the Queensland bar in 1902.

Fowles was a committed member of the Methodist Church throughout his life. While actively involved in his local congregation at Kingsholme, New Farm, he was deeply committed to the wider church and public affairs. His interests and gifts were extraordinarily varied. He was a prolific writer being responsible for newspaper columns, legal texts and travel guides. Fowles served as an associate editor of the Daily Mail from 1903 to 1907.

Fowles was appointed to the Legislative Council in 1912 and served until its abolition in 1922. When the Labor Party came to power in 1915, Fowles became the unofficial leader of the opposition in the upper house. He later made two unsuccessful attempts to enter the Legislative Assembly for the United Party.

Fowles was a foundation member of the Senate of the University of Queensland, the Presbyterian and Methodist Schools Association and of the King's College Council. Fowles was active within the temperance movement in Queensland. Fowles was a local preacher in the Methodist Church and was constantly in demand. His greatest contribution to the life of the church was in music. A gifted choirmaster and hymn-writer, he was a member of the committee which prepared the Australian and New Zealand supplement to the Methodist Hymn Book of 1933. Two of his hymns appeared in the supplement, the most well known being Young of the race, arise. Fowles also produced The New Methodist Hymn Book Companionwhich contained advice for choirs and on the introduction of new hymns to congregations.

Brisbane Courier 12 Feb 1902; Courier Mail 12 Jan 1946; ADB 8; Biographical Dictionary of the Queensland Parliament

THOM BLAKE