Rowe, Thomas (1656-03-25 - 1705-08-18)

Thomas Rowe was born in 1656/7 in London to John Rowe (1626/7-1677) and his wife Anne. He was educated at the dissenting academy of Theophilus Gale at Newington Green, Middlesex. After Gale’s death in 1679, Rowe succeeded Gale as both pastor of the Independent congregation at Holborn and head of the academy. The ODNB notes that this congregation moved from Holborn to Girdlers’ Hall in Basinghall Street, although the DWL catalogue suggests that the new location was Haberdasher’s Hall; the academy moved to Clapham and then to Little Britain, London shortly before the Revolution. Rowe served as one of the original managers of the Congregational Fund in 1695, and in 1699 became a lecturer at Pinners’ Hall, London. He died unmarried at age 48 in London on 18 August 1705 of a stroke or heart attack. He was buried in Bunhill Fields, London.