thumb|Portrait of John Hooker (c.1527–1601) of Exeter. British (English) School, 16th/17th century. [[Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter]]

thumb|Arms of Hooker alias Vowell, of Exeter: Or, a fess vair between two lions passant guardant sable

John Hooker (or "Hoker") alias John Vowell (c. 1527–1601) of Exeter in Devon, was an English historian, writer, solicitor, antiquary, and civic administrator. From 1555 to his death he was Chamberlain of Exeter. He was twice MP for Exeter in 1570/1 and 1586, and for Athenry in Ireland in 1569 and wrote an influential treatise on parliamentary procedure. He wrote an eye-witness account of the siege of Exeter during the Prayer Book Rebellion in 1549. He spent several years in Ireland as legal adviser to Sir Peter Carew, and following Carew's death in 1575 wrote his biography. He was one of the editors of the second edition of Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles, published in 1587. His last, unpublished and probably uncompleted work was the first topographical description of the county of Devon. He founded a guild of Merchant Adventurers under a charter from Queen Mary. He was the uncle of Richard Hooker, the influential Anglican theologian.

Origins

Hooker was born at Bourbridge Hall in Exeter, Devon, England. He was the second son and eventual heir of Robert Vowell (d.1538) of Exeter alias Hooker by his third wife Agnes Dobell (or Doble), daughter of John Dobell of Woodbridge in Suffolk. His grandfather was John Vowell alias Hooker (d.1493), MP for Exeter.) Vowell of Pembroke in Wales, from whom John Hooker (d.1601) was 6th in descent. The original Welsh name was possibly ap-Howell. notably Pietro Martire Vermigli.

Career

In Exeter

thumb|right|A map of Exeter in the time of Hooker, with his quartered arms at bottom left

During the Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549 Hooker experienced at first hand the siege of Exeter, and left a vivid manuscript account of its events in which he made no effort to conceal his anti-Catholic sympathies.

In Ireland

In 1568, possibly because he regarded himself as underpaid for the work he was doing for Exeter, Hooker was persuaded by Sir Peter Carew to accompany him to Ireland as his legal adviser. He organised Carew's papers in support of his claim for the barony of Idrone, a task to which he committed himself so deeply that in 1569 he was returned to the Irish parliament as member for Athenry. Hooker later wrote a biography of Carew, The dyscourse and dyscoverye of the lyffe of Sir Peter Carew, in which he almost certainly understated the deceit and aggression behind Carew's Irish venture.

Until Carew's death in 1575, Hooker spent much time in Ireland, but he had also been returned to the English parliament in 1571 as one of the burgesses of Exeter. The session lasted only a few weeks, but he kept a journal in which he accurately recorded the proceedings. His experiences in the Irish and English parliaments led him to write a treatise on parliamentary practice, The Order and Usage how to Keepe a Parlement in England, which was published in two editions in 1572. One edition had a preface addressed to William FitzWilliam, Lord Deputy of Ireland and was clearly intended to bring order to the Irish assembly; the other was addressed to the Exeter city authorities, presumably to aid his successor burgesses. In writing his treatise Hooker took much inspiration from the Modus Tenendi Parliamentum, a treatise from the early 14th century. which were used as source material for many later topographical descriptions of the county, including Thomas Westcote's Survey of Devon (1630) and Tristram Risdon's Chorographical Description or Survey of the County of Devon (c. 1632).

Marriage and children

He married twice:

  • Firstly in the 1540s he married Martha Tucker (died pre-1586), a daughter of Robert Tucker of Exeter by whom he had three sons and two daughters including:
  • Robert Hooker (d.1602) eldest son.
  • Secondly he married Anastryce Bridgeman (c. 1540–1599), a daughter of Edward Bridgeman of Exeter,

Works

  • Orders Enacted for Orphans and for their Portions within the Citie of Exeter, London, 1575
  • The Antique Description and Account of the City of Exeter: In Three Parts, All Written Purely by John Vowell, Alias Hoker
  • The order and usage of the keeping of a parlement in England, 1572
  • A pamphlet of the offices and duties of everie particular sworned officer of the citie of Excester (sic) 1584
  • The Life and Times of Sir Peter Carew, (d.1575), whose mural monument Hooker erected in Exeter Cathedral, as evidenced by the two escutcheons showing the arms of Hooker at the base of the monument.

References

Further reading

  • A portrait of Hooker by an unknown artist, 1601.