George Bowes

Who was George Bowes?

Sir George Bowes was an English Member of Parliament and coal proprietor.

George Bowes was baptized on 4 September 1701, the youngest son of Sir William Bowes, MP, and Elizabeth Bowes. The Bowes family had been prominent in County Durham, with their ownership of the estate and castle of Streatlam but, in 1713, George's father acquired the Gibside estate which included some of the area's richest coal seams and led to the family's acquisition of immense wealth through the coal trade. This wealth was, however, gained through the employment of men, women and children in conditions that would now be considered intolerable.

George Bowes inherited the family estates in 1721—although he was the youngest son, his elder brothers died young. In October 1724 he married the fourteen-year-old Eleanor Verney, but she died in December of that year. Her death was commemorated in a poem, written by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, which implied that she had died as a result of Bowes' sexual vigour.

Bowes went on to marry Mary Gilbert in 1747 and had one daughter, Mary Eleanor Bowes, born 24 February 1748 /1749.