Eddowes Bowman

Who was Eddowes Bowman?

Eddowes Bowman, was a dissenting tutor.

Bowman was the eldest son of John Eddowes Bowman the elder and Elisabeth, his cousin, was born at Nantwich on 12 Nov. 1810. He was educated chiefly at Hazelwood, near Birmingham, by Thomas Wright Hill, father of Sir Rowland Hill. The future postal reformer was his teacher in mathematics.

From school he passed to the Eagle foundry, Birmingham, where he improved himself in mechanical engineering. He became, about 1835, sub-manager of the Varteg ironworks, near Pontypool.

On the closing of the Varteg works in 1840 Bowman betook himself to study, graduated M.A. at Glasgow, and attended lectures at Berlin, acquiring several modern languages and mastering various branches of physical science.

In 1846 Francis W. Newman resigned the classical chair in the Manchester New College, having been elected to the chair of Latin in University College, London. Bowman was immediately appointed his successor at Manchester as professor of classical literature and history, and he held that post till the removal of the college to Gordon Square, London, as a purely theological institution, in 1853. To this removal he was strongly opposed.

Remaining in Manchester, though possessed of a sufficient independence, he gratified his natural taste for teaching by engaging in the education of girls.