Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bowen, John (1815-1859)
BOWEN, JOHN, LL.D. (1815–1859), bishop of Sierra Leone, son of Thomas Bowen, captain in the 85th regiment, by his third wife, Mary, daughter of the Rev. John Evans, chaplain to the garrison at Placentia, Newfoundland, was born at Court, near Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, on 21 Nov. 1815. At twelve years of age he was sent to school at Merlin's Vale, near Haverfordwest, and in 1830 continued his studies at the same place under the care of the Rev. David Adams. He emigrated to Canada in April 1835, and took a farm at Dunville, on the shores of Lake Erie, where, during the rebellion of 1837-8, he served in the militia. On Sunday, 6 March 1842, he heard a sermon in the Lake Shore church, which made a great impression on his mind, and ultimately led to a desire to prepare himself for the ministerial office. A favourable opportunity having occurred for disposing of his farm advantageously, he returned home, and in January 1843 entered himself at Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated B.A. in 1847, and became LL.B. and LL.D. ten years later. His first appointment was to the assistant-curacy of Knaresborough, Yorkshire, in 1848. While residing here he asked the Church Missionary Society to allow him to visit their numerous foreign stations. The society suggested that he should proceed to Jerusalem, there to confer with Bishop Gobat, and then to visit the missionary stations at Syra, Smyrna, and Cairo; afterwards to journey to Mount Lebanon, Nablous, and other places in Syria, and thence to proceed to Mosul by Constantinople and Trebizond, returning by Bagdad and Damascus to Jerusalem. All this he accomplished, going through many hardships and dangers, and returning to England in December 1851. In 1853 he was named, by the Marquis of Huntly, rector of Orton-Longueville with Botolph Bridge in Huntingdonshire. Having obtained permission from his bishop, he again left England in September 1854, and was absent in the East until July 1856. He had by this time made such good use of his opportunities for the study of Arabic, that he was able to preach with fluency in that difficult language. On 10 Aug. 1857 he was consecrated bishop of Sierra Leone by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishops of Peterborough and Victoria, and sailed for his diocese on 26 Nov. following. The bishop recovered from several attacks of yellow fever. Malignant fever, however, broke out in the colony, and he died of it on 2 June 1859, when he had occupied the see two years and five months. He married, on 24 Nov. 1857, Catharine Butler, second daughter of Dr. George Butler, dean of Peterborough. She died at Freetown, after giving birth to a stillborn son, on 4 Aug. 1858.
[Memorials of John Bowen, LL.D., Bishop of Sierra Leone, by his Sister, 1862; Gent. Mag. vii. 187-8 (1859).]