Lieutenant General Thomas Fowke, also spelt Foulks, circa 1690 to 29 March 1765, was a British military officer from South Staffordshire, who was Governor of Gibraltar from 1753 to 1756, and twice court-martialled during his service.

[2] Fowke began his military career during the War of the Spanish Succession in 1702 as an Ensign in Nicholas Lepell's Regiment of Foot, his father being a captain in the same unit.

[9] As deputy to Sir John Cope, military commander in Scotland, he fought at Prestonpans in September; their army collapsed in the face of the Jacobite assault, in a battle lasting less than 15 minutes.

The opening action of the Seven Years' War was the British naval defeat at Minorca in June 1756, an event that led to the trial and execution of Admiral John_Byng.

[11] Fowke was court martialled for allegedly refusing to provide Byng with soldiers from the Gibraltar garrison; originally suspended for nine months, George II insisted he be dismissed from the army.

A 1757 Parliamentary committee noted the poor state of the island's defences, with crumbling walls and rotten gun platforms; over 35 senior officers were absent from their posts, including the governor and colonels of all four regiments in its garrison.

[15] Fowke kept a personal journal and record of correspondence; his papers for the period 1752 to 1755, including his time as Governor of Gibraltar, were acquired by in 2015 by the Lewis Walpole Library, part of Yale University.