Swansea, 1822; it was reprinted in 1823 as 'Select Chapters from the Old Testament … with Short Introductions.' Bowdler was an active promoter of the Proclamation Society, formed in 1787 to enforce a royal proclamation against impiety and vice—a society which was afterwards replaced by the Society for the Suppression of Vice.
The verb to 'bowdlerise' is of course a derivative from Bowdler's name. It was apparently first used in print by General Perronet Thompson in 1836 in his 'Letters of a Representative to his Constituents during the session of 1836' (London), reprinted in Thompson's 'Exercises,' 1842, iv. 124. Thompson writes that there are certain classical names in the writings of the apostles which modern ultra-christians 'would probably have Bowdler-ized' information kindly supplied by Dr. J. A. H. Murray of Oxford).
[Some account of Thomas Bowdler, F.R.S. and F.S.A., is appended to the Life of John Bowdler by his son Thomas Bowdler, 1825, pp. 298-331. This notice was reprinted in the Annual Biography and Obituary (1826), x. 191-218. See also Nichols's Lit. Anecdotes, ix. 37; preface to Bowdler's Shakespeare (4th ed.); Munk's College of Physicians, ii. 324; Nichols's Illustrations, v. 641.]
BOWDLER, THOMAS, the younger (1782–1856), divine, the eldest son of John Bowdler the elder [q. v.], born 13 March 1782, was educated at a private school, and at St. John's College, Cambridge, where he proceeded B. A. in 1803, and M.A. in 1806. He was appointed curate of Leyton, Essex, in 1803, and after holding the livings of Ash and Ridley, and of Addington, Kent, became incumbent of the church at Sydenham in 1834. He took an active part in opposing the tractarian movement of 1840. In 1846 he became secretary of the Church Building Society, which his father had been instrumental in founding. On 7 Dec. 1849 he received a prebend in St. Paul's Cathedral. He died on 12 Nov. 1856. He married about 1804 Phœbe, the daughter of Joseph Cotton, who died in December 1854. Of nine children, four died in infancy, and three in succession between 1833 and 1839. Bowdler was the author of a large number of published sermons. Collected editions were issued in 1820, 1834, and 1846 respectively. He wrote a memoir of his father in 1824, and edited with Launcelot Sharpe the Greek version of Bishop Andrewes's 'Devotions.' He was the editor of the edition of Gibbon prepared by his uncle, Thomas Bowdler the elder [q. v.]
[Gent. Mag. 1857, pt. i. 241-2; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
BOWEN, JAMES (d. 1774), painter and topographer, was a native of Shrewsbury, where he died in 1774 (Leighton, Guide through Shrewsbury, p. 182). He made a copious collection for a history of Shropshire, having taken church notes, sketches of monuments, transcripts of records, &c., when he was accompanying Mr. Mytton through the county (Gough's Topography, ii. 176). One of Bowen's works is a view of the church of Mary in the Battlefield, Shrewsbury (ib. p. 184), and he produced also some useful maps (ib. p. 185). Gough bought all the genealogical and topographical materials which Bowen had amassed, and they form part of the manuscripts and similar relics which Gough bequeathed to the Bodleian Library.
[Leighton's Guide through Shrewsbury, p. 182; Gent. Mag. vol. cii. pt. ii. p. 185; Gough's Topography, ii. 176.]
BOWEN, JAMES (1751–1835), rear-admiral, was born at Ilfracombe. He first went to sea in the merchant service, and in 1776 commanded a ship in the African and West India trade; but shortly after entered the navy as a master, and served in that capacity on board the Artois with Captain Macbride during 1781-2, being present in the battle on the Doggerbank on 5 Aug. 1781, and on many other occasions. He continued with Captain Macbride in different ships till 1789, when he was appointed inspecting agent of transports in the Thames. When the revolutionary war broke out, Bowen quitted this employment at the request of Lord Howe to go with him as master of his flagship, the Queen Charlotte, and he had thus the glorious duty of piloting her into the battle of 1 June. It is told by ancient tradition that on the admiral giving the order 'Starboard!' Bowen ventured to say, 'My lord, you'll be foul of the French ship if you don't take care.' 'What is that to you, sir?' replied Howe sharply; 'starboard!' 'Starboard!' cried Bowen, muttering by no means inaudibly, 'Damned if I care, if you don't. I'll take you near enough to singe your black whiskers.' He did almost literally fulfil this promise, passing so close under the stern of the Montagne, that the French ensign brushed the main and mizen shrouds of the Queen Charlotte as she poured her broadside into the French ship's starboard quarter. For his conduct on this day Bowen was made a lieutenant on 23 June 1794; after the action off L'Orient on 23 June 1795, in which he was first lieutenant of the Queen Charlotte, he was made commander; and on 2 Sept. of the same year was advanced to the rank of captain. During
