George Bowen
Sir George Ferguson Bowen
Early life
Bowen was born the eldest son of the Rev. Edward Bowen (1779–1867),
Bowen was educated at Charterhouse School and Trinity College, Oxford. He matriculated at Oxford in 1840, and graduated with a first-class B.A. in classics in 1844 (promoted to M.A. in 1847). Bowen was twice President of the Oxford Union. He was elected a fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford, and entered Lincoln's Inn as a student, both in 1844.[7] In 1846 Bowen had some naval training, serving for sixteen days on HMS Victory.[1]
Service in the Ionian Islands
In 1847 Bowen was appointed president of the Ionian Academy located in Corfu, a post he held until 1851.[1][8]
Bowen became the chief secretary to the government of the
Governor of Queensland
In 1859, Bowen was appointed the first
Governor of New Zealand
In 1867 Bowen was made Governor of New Zealand, where he was successful in reconciling the Māori reaction to the British rule and saw the end of the New Zealand Wars.[10] Bowen also instituted the New Zealand Cross for colonial soldiers, one of the rarest bravery awards in the world and equivalent to the Victoria Cross (he was reprimanded for exceeding his authority).[12]
In 1869,
Governor of Victoria
In March 1873, Bowen was transferred to the colony of
Governor of Mauritius
Bowen arrived on Mauritius on 4 April 1879 and served as 13th Governor of the colony until 9 December 1880.[15]
Governor of Hong Kong
On 30 March 1883, Bowen was made Governor of Hong Kong. During his tenure, his administration established the Hong Kong Observatory, which also served as the meteorological institute of the territory. He founded the first college in Hong Kong, and ordered the construction of the Typhoon Shelter in Causeway Bay, and a government hospital. He retired in 1887, due to ill health.[16]
Post-governorship
Bowen returned to England after his time in Hong Kong and was appointed chief of a Royal Commission sent to Malta in December 1887 to help to draft the new constitution for the island. All recommendations made by the commission were adopted.[17] Afterwards, Bowen was sworn into the Privy Council.
Personal life
Bowen was married twice.
His first wife was
- first child, a son who died when twelve days old, born in the Ionian Islands
- Adelaide Diamantina (Nina) Bowen, born 17 August 1858 in the Ionian Islands
- Zoe Caroline Bowen, born 28 August 1860 at Adelaide House (the temporary Government House), Brisbane, Queensland
- Agnes Herbert Bowen, born 26 July 1862 at the first Government House in Brisbane
- George William Howard Bowen, born 9 April 1864 at the first Government House, in Brisbane
- Alfreda Ernestina Albertina Bowen, born 10 April 1869 at Old Government House, Auckland, New Zealand
Diamantina died in London in 1893 at about the age of 60.[18]
George married his second wife, Letitia Florence White, in late 1896 at Chelsea, London.[18] Florence was the daughter of Thomas Luby, a mathematician, and was the widow of Henry White, whom she had married in 1878.[18]
George Ferguson Bowen died on 21 February 1899 in
Legacy
The following were named after George Bowen:
- Bowen, a town in Queensland
- Bowen Hills, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
- Bowen Square, a pleasure garden, opposite the heritage building of AfrAsia Bank, right in the city centre of Port Louis, Mauritius
- Bowen Park, a pleasure garden in Bowen Hills
- Bowen Downs Station, a pastoral lease in outback Queensland
- Bowen Bridge and Bowen Bridge Road, a bridge and the road that crosses it, in Brisbane, Queensland
- Bowen Terrace (and Lower Bowen Terrace), a road in the Brisbane suburb of New Farm
- Bowen Aqueductin Hong Kong.
- Bowen Street (now part of the RMITcampus) in Melbourne
- Bowen Street in Wellington, New Zealand.
Queen Victoria issued the Letters Patent and the accompanying Order-in-Council that are Queensland's primary founding documents on 6 June 1859. The Letters Patent specifically appointed Sir George Ferguson Bowen as Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of Queensland, endowing him with the legal authority to oversee the installation of self-government by and for the citizens of the colony. This document was #1 in the 'Top 150: Documenting Queensland' exhibition when it toured to venues around Queensland from February 2009 to April 2010.[19] The exhibition was part of Queensland State Archives' events and exhibition program which contributed to the state's Q150 celebrations, marking the 150th anniversary of the separation of Queensland from New South Wales.[20]
His wife Diamantina appears to have been more popular than George in Queensland, as there are many Queensland places named after her.
Several objects connected to Bowen are held in the collections of the State Library of Queensland, including his ceremonial sword, an 1865 sterling silver ceremonial spade presented to Bowen during turning of the first sod of the first section of the Queensland Northern Railway and an 1882 pastel portrait by artist Henry Gordon Fanner.[21]
Honours
- CMG, 1855
- KCMG, 1856
- GCMG, 1860
- Privy Counsellor, 1886
- Honorary DCL Degree, Oxford, 1875
- Honorary LLD Degree, Cambridge, 1886.[22]
Literary works
- Ithaca in 1850, (London, 1851[1] translated into Greek in 1859)
- Mount Athos, Thessaly and Epirus (London, 1852);
- Handbook for Travellers in Greece[1] contributor (London, 1854).
- Thirty Years of Colonial Government (London, 1889, edited by S. Lane-Poole)
See also
- Diamantina Bowen, wife of George Bowen
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l R. B. Joyce, 'Bowen, Sir George Ferguson (1821–1899) Archived 10 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 3, Melbourne University Press, 1969, pp 203–207. Retrieved 18 April 2010
- ^ a b Death of Sir George Bowen Archived 4 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9676, 23 February 1899, Page 2
- ^ a b c d 'Donegal-born academic and colonial governor who married a Greek countess in Corfu' (Patrick Comerford, 1 October 2022). https://www.patrickcomerford.com/2022/10/the-donegal-born-academic-and-colonial.html?m=1 Archived 7 February 2023 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b N.I.A.H.: Bogay House, Bogay Glebe, Co. Donegal. https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/40904709/bogay-house-bogay-glebe-co-donegal Archived 7 February 2023 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b 'Duke's former Donegal hunting lodge on the market for €650K' (Donegal Daily, 16 August 2022). https://www.donegaldaily.com/2022/08/16/dukes-former-donegal-hunting-lodge-on-the-market-for-e650/ Archived 9 February 2023 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Townlands.ie: Bogay Glebe Townland, Co. Donegal. https://www.townlands.ie/donegal/raphoe-north/allsaints/castleforward/bogay-glebe/ Archived 28 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Foster, Joseph. . – via Wikisource.
- ^ a b Dod (1860), p. 127
- CC BY licence, accessed on 1 June 2022.
- ^ a b Chisholm 1911, p. 342.
- ^ "The Late Lady Bowen" Archived 9 February 2023 at the Wayback Machine, Brisbane Courier, Monday 27 November 1893
- Te Papa Museum. Archivedfrom the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
- ^ "Rear-Admiral Sir Albert Hastings Markham, Norfolk Museums and Archeology Service". Archived from the original on 2 June 2008. Retrieved 18 November 2008.
- ^ Hegg, Danilo (19 May 2010). "Bowen River". Southernalps. Archived from the original on 12 January 2015. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
- ^ "Mauritius". Archived from the original on 2 June 2009. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ^ Chisholm 1911.
- ^ Chisholm 1911, pp. 342–343.
- ^ a b c d http://www.freebmd.org Archived 9 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Number 1 – Governor, Sir George Ferguson Bowen's Letters Patent (1859)". Number 1 – Governor, Sir George Ferguson Bowen's Letters Patent (1859). Queensland State Archives. 5 April 2015. Archived from the original on 9 February 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - from the original on 26 August 2020, retrieved 4 August 2020
- ^ "Queensland's first Governor | State Library Of Queensland". www.slq.qld.gov.au. 1 November 2021. Archived from the original on 1 June 2022. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
- ^ "Bowen, George Ferguson (BWN886GF)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
Bibliography
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 342–343.
- Mennell, Philip (1892). . The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co – via Wikisource.
- Carlyle, Edward Irving (1901). . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography (1st supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- Dod, Robert Philip (1860). The Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage of Great Britain and Ireland. London: Whitaker and Co.
- McLean, Gavin (2006). The Governors: New Zealand's Governors and Governors-General. Dunedin: Otago University Press. ISBN 1-877372-25-0. Archivedfrom the original on 24 June 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
References
- Dictionary of Australian Biography – Project Gutenberg
- The Arrival & Reception of His Excellency Sir G.F. Bowen, First Governor of Queensland, Moreton Bay Courier, Tuesday 13 December 1859, page 2
- Departure of Governor Sir G.F. Bowen[permanent dead link], The Brisbane Courier, Monday 6 January 1868, page 2
- Reception of Sir G.F. Bowen in New Zealand[permanent dead link], The Brisbane Courier, Tuesday 3 March 1868, page 3
- Farewell Ball to the Governor, Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 135, 20 March 1873, Page 2
- Death of Sir George Bowen, Brisbane Courier, Thursday 23 February 1899
- The Late Sir George Bowen, Brisbane Courier, Monday 27 February 1899
- Death of Sir George Bowen, Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9676, 23 February 1899, Page 2
External links
- Queensland's first Governor, John Oxley Library Blog, State Library of Queensland.
- Handbook for travellers in Greece at GoogleBooks
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