Fowler, who has an MA in Archive Administration from University College London, was editor of Richmond History, the annual journal of the Richmond Local History Society, from 2015 to 2019 and was editor of Ancestors, the family history magazine of The National Archives (UK), from 2004 until it ceased publication in 2010. He edited Family History Monthly from 2000 to 2004. His history-related articles have appeared in Local History Magazine, Family Tree, History Today,[4]BBC History Magazine and several academic journals.
He was an archivist at the Public Record Office, now The National Archives, for 20 years.[5] He was secretary of Labour Heritage, the Labour Oral History Project and the Friendly Societies Research Group. He is also active with the London Archive Users Forum and the Brewery and Pub History societies.[6]
The Phil: A History of the Richmond Philanthropic Society, Richmond: Philanthropic Society, 1997
Philanthropy and the Poor Law in Richmond 1836–1871, Richmond Local History Society, 1991, ISBN0-9508198-8-3; revised second edition published as Poverty and Philanthropy in Victorian Richmond, Richmond Local History Society, 2017, ISBN978-1-912314-02-7
Railway Disasters (Images of Transport), Wharncliffe Books, 2013, ISBN978-1-84563-158-1
Researching Brewery and Publican Ancestors, The Family History Partnership, 2009, ISBN978-1906280123
Richmond at War 1939–1945, Richmond Local History Society, 2015, ISBN978-0-9550717-8-2
Richmond in the Census of 1851, Richmond Local History Society, 1988, ISBN978-095081983-9
(with David Thomas and Valerie Johnson) The Silence of the Archive (Principles and Practice in Records Management and Archives), Facet Publishing, 2017, ISBN978-1783301553
Sources for Labour History (Public Record Office Readers' Guide), PRO Publications, 1996, ISBN978-1873162217
Starting Out in Local History, Countryside Books, 2001, ISBN978-1853066863
Tracing Irish Ancestors (Pocket Guides to Family History), Pen and Sword Books, 2001, ISBN978-1903365038
Tracing Your First World War Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians, Countryside Books, 2008, ISBN978-1846741302; second edition, Pen and Sword Books, ISBN978-1399000390
Tracing Your Great War Ancestors – The Gallipoli Campaign: A Guide for Family Historians, Pen and Sword Books, 2015, ISBN978-1473823686
Tracing Your Great War Ancestors – The Somme: A Guide for Family Historians, Pen and Sword Books, 2015, ISBN978-1473823693
Tracing Your Great War Ancestors – Ypres: A Guide for Family Historians, Pen and Sword Books, 2015, ISBN978-1473823709
Tracing Your Navy Ancestors, Pen and Sword Books, 2011, ISBN978-1848846258
Tracing Your Second World War Ancestors, Countryside Books, 2006, ISBN978-1853069369
Using Poor Law Records (Pocket Guides to Family History), PRO Publications, 2001, ISBN978-1903365076
The Workhouse: The People, The Places, The Life Behind Doors, The National Archives (UK), 2007, ISBN978-1905615032; second edition, Pen and Sword Books, 2014, ISBN978-1783831517
As editor
(with Robert Smith) J M Lee: Petersham: radar and operational research 1940–1946, Richmond Local History Society, second edition 2024, ISBN978-1-912314-04-1