George Fowler was probably born in England in about 1766. In 1798, he was a lieutenant in the York Regiment of Fencible Infantry in Ireland. On 7 August 1806, Lieutenant Fowler was transferred to the 41st Regiment of Foot, which was in Canada.
On August 25, 1812, Fowler was appointed as Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General by Lt.-Col. Christopher Myers, who was Acting Quartermaster General. On October 13, 1812, Fowler was present at the Battle of Queenston Heights and afterwards Maj.-Gen. Sheaffe reported:
“…having received essential service from….Lieutenant Fowler, 41st Regiment, Deputy-Assistant-Quartermaster General…”
Three days later, Lt. Fowler was one of the mourners, alongside Lt.-Col. Myers, in the funeral procession of Maj.-Gen. Isaac Brock to his burial at Fort George.
Fowler was promoted to Captain in the 41st Regiment of Foot in January 1813. On May 27, at the Battle of Fort George and subsequent retreat, Capt. Fowler was in charge of the Coloured Corps, a militia company of twenty-seven soldiers consisting of black men with white officers, that had been placed under the Quartermaster-General’s Department. During the Battle of Stoney Creek, on June 13, the Coloured Corps under Capt. Fowler remained in the rear with the role of “reconnoitering the country, collecting the resources and keeping open communication”. On July 11, Fowler was replaced as the company commander and, by August, he was back in Quebec with the Quartermaster-General’s Department.
On April 16, 1814, George Fowler was a witness at the marriage in Quebec of the Deputy Quartermaster-General, Col. Christopher Myers.
In 1815, after the war ended, Capt. George Fowler was placed on half pay from the 41st Regiment of Foot and remained in Quebec when the 41st returned to England. In August, Fowler was transferred to the 104th Regiment of Foot on full pay as Captain of a Company.
On June 19, 1816, Capt. Fowler was appointed as Superintendent of the Perth Military Settlement, in what is now Lanark County, Ontario. The new military settlements in Eastern Ontario came under the jurisdiction of the Quartermaster-General’s Department. As a result of his military service, Capt. Fowler received seven land grants in five different townships. One of those grants was in what is now the Town of Perth. George Fowler was replaced as Superintendent of the Perth Settlement in 1817 and was put on half pay on May 24.
Capt. George Fowler died in Quebec on April 21, 1822, and was buried in St. Matthew’s Cemetery, 755 Rue St. Jean, next to Col. Christopher Myers. Present at the burial were Lt.-Col. John Harvey, the Deputy Adjutant General, and Lt.-Col. Francis Cockburn, the Deputy Quartermaster General who had taken that position on the death of Col. Christopher Myers. The inscription on George Fowler’s gravestone reads:
SACRED
TO THE MEMORY OF
CAPTAIN GEORGE FOWLER
DEPT ASSIST QUARTER MASTER GENERAL
TO THE FORCES
IN THE CANADAS
WHO DIED APRIL 21ST
AD 1822
AGED 53 YEARS
A six-stanza poem “on the recent and much lamented death of Captain Fowler” appeared in the Quebec Mercury. After his death, Capt. Fowler’s widow returned to England.