Edward Fortescue
Provost of St Ninian's Cathedral, Perth
Edward Bowles Knottesford-Fortescue (1816–1877) was an English Anglican priest who converted to Catholicism.
Life
Edward Fortescue was born in 1816 in Stoke-by-Nayland in Suffolk, the son of Francis Fortescue and his wife Maria, only daughter of the Revd George Downing, rector of Ovington and prebendary of Ely Cathedral. Francis Fortescue inherited the estate of Bridgeton with the manors of Alveston and Teddington from his father's cousin, John Knottesford, who was also godfather to Francis. Upon coming of age, Francis added the name Knottesford, which was a condition of the will. Francis and Maria had two sons, George and Edward.
Fortescue's father was ordained in the Church of England. In 1823 the family moved to the family estate at Alveston on the outskirt of Stratford-on-Avon, where Francis Fortescue became rector of the parish of Billesley. Fortescue was educated at home before entering Wadham College, Oxford, on 5 June 1834 at the age of 18. He acquired a B.A. in 1838, and an M.A. in 1842.
He was ordained in 1840.
The public source identifies “Edward Fortescue” as provost of St Ninian's Cathedral, Perth. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Edward, Fortescue and Provost.
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The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 16, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q5342964. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1816, 1877, 1823 and 1834.
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This entry incorporates text from “Edward Fortescue” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.