the two following years he commanded the Thunderer in the West Indies. In 1798 he commanded the Argo of 44 guns in the Mediterranean, took part in the reduction of Minorca by Commodore Duckworth, and on 6 Feb. 1799, after a brilliant chase of two Spanish frigates of nearly equal force, succeeded in capturing one of them, the Santa Teresa of 42 guns. For the next three years Bowen was employed in convoy service, in the course of which he was officially thanked by the court of directors of the East India Company, and presented with a piece of plate value 400l. for his 'care and attention' in convoying one of their fleets from England to St. Helena. In 1803 he was appointed to command the Dreadnought of 98 guns, but was shortly afterwards nominated a commissioner of the transport board. In 1805 he had the charge of laying down moorings for the fleet in Falmouth harbour; in 1806 he was for some time captain of the fleet to Lord St. Vincent off Brest; and in January 1809 superintended the re-embarkation of the army at Corunna, for which important service he received the thanks of both houses of parliament. In 1816 he was appointed one of the commissioners of the navy, and continued in that office till July 1825, when he was retired with the rank of rear-admiral. He died on 27 April 1835. Bowen was not the only one of his family who rendered the name illustrious in our naval annals. His brother Richard, captain of the Terpsichore in 1797, fell in the attack on Santa Cruz on 24 July, 'than whom,' wrote Nelson, 'a more enterprising, able, and gallant officer does not grace his majesty's naval service' (Nelson Despatches, ii. 423). Another brother George, also a captain in the navy, died at Torquay in October 1817. His eldest son James died captain of the Phoenix frigate, on the East India station, in 1812; and another son John, also a captain, after serving in that rank through the later years of the war, died in 1828. His youngest son St. Vincent was a clergyman. He had also a daughter Teresa, who died in 1876, bequeathing to the Painted Hall at Greenwich a very pleasing portrait of her father.
[Marshall's Roy. Nav. Biog. iii. (vol. ii.) 94.]
BOWEN, JOHN (1756–1832), painter and genealogist, was the eldest son of James Bowen, painter and topographer, of Shrewsbury [q. v.], and was born in that city in 1756. Bowen studied the local antiquities under his father; traced out the pedigrees of Shropshire families, and became especially skilful in deciphering and copying ancient manuscripts. In 1795 he sent a drawing of the Droitwich town seal to the 'Gentleman's Magazine' (vol. lxv. pt. i. p. 13), signing himself 'Antiquarius;' and in 1802 (vol. lxxii. pt. i. p. 210) he followed this up with another communication, to which he put his initials. He drew four views of Shrewsbury, which were engraved by Vandergucht (Gough, Topography, ii. 177), and in the 'Philosophical Transactions' (xlix. 196) is a plate of some Roman inscriptions from his hand. He died on 19 June 1832, aged 76.
[Gent. Mag. vol. cii. pt. ii. p. 185; Gough's Topography, ii. 177; Leighton's Guide through Shrewsbury, p. 182.]
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
