Thomas Edward Rowcroft ( – 7 December 1824) was a prominent English merchant and an alderman of the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

. He was heavily involved in benevolent outreaches such as the Subscription for the

Irish Famine The Great Famine ( ga, an Gorta Mór ), also known within Ireland as the Great Hunger or simply the Famine and outside Ireland as the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of starvation and disease in Ireland from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a ...

, the Waterloo Subscription for the families of soldiers killed during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

, and various literary and artistic societies. He was appointed by Foreign Minister George Canning as the first British diplomatic representative in

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

. He arrived in

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of t ...

consul general A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

in 1824, accompanied by his daughter, Leonora Maria. His son and writer Charles was in

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, Australia, which he left in the ''Cumberland'' in September 1825. Another son, Horatio Nelson Horace Rowcroft, was also farming in Tasmania at the time. At this time, Lima was temporarily in the power of the royalists. Conditions in the city were awful. However, shortly after Rowcroft's arrival,

Simón Bolívar Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24 July 1783 – 17 December 1830) was a Venezuelan military and political leader who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and ...

returned to Lima from the interior and the Spanish retreated to Castle of Real Felipe. Rowcroft decided to go to

Callao Callao () is a Peruvian seaside city and region on the Pacific Ocean in the Lima metropolitan area. Callao is Peru's chief seaport and home to its main airport, Jorge Chávez International Airport. Callao municipality consists of the whole Call ...

, the port of Lima, to deliver letters to under Captain Thomas James Maling and arranged for a safe pass through the royalist lines. On the return from his visit he handed in his safe pass but, as his coach left the outpost, it was struck by a hail of bullets. Rowcroft was wounded in the hand and the torso and died on 7 December 1824 at the home of a British merchant. Leonora was taken on board HMS ''Cambridge''. The consul was buried on Saturday morning 11 December 1824 on San Lorenzo Island, off the coast from Callao. Captain (later Rear-Admiral) Thomas Maling was the chief mourner. There is now little doubt that Rowcroft was accidentally shot by the Independents under Simon Bolivar. It is said that the royalist officer who gave him the safe pass had, unbeknownst to Rowcroft, written a death sentence on it. His daughter returned to England the following year after disposing of her father's goods and married Alfred Samuel Robinson,For more on Alfred Samuel Robinson see: a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, on 4 December 1827. At

Markham College Markham College is an international school in Lima, Peru. Founded by British immigrants, Markham promotes a mixture of British and Peruvian education. Markham is an independent, non-profit, co-educational, bilingual, secular, day school of appr ...

, Rowcroft House is the only house not named after a military figure.

References

* J. C. Horner, Cecil Hadgraft (1967)
Rowcroft, Charles (1798–1856)
''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Vol. 2, Melbourne University Press, 1967, p. 402 *
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser
', Thursday 1 September 1825, p. 3 *
The Gentleman's Magazine
', Vol. 95, Part 1, p. 645 * The Annual Register, Or, A View of the History ..., Volume 46; Volume 69 https://books.google.com/books?id=faM-AQAAMAAJ&dq=leonora+maria+rowcroft&pg=RA1-PA217 British diplomats Assassinated British diplomats Date of birth missing 1770s births 1824 deaths British people murdered abroad Deaths by firearm in Peru People murdered in Peru 19th-century British diplomats {{UK-diplomat-stub