John Bowle

Who is John Bowle?

John Bowle was an English churchman and bishop of Rochester.

A native of Lancashire, he was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he obtained a fellowship. He proceeded M.A., D.D., and was incorporated M.A. of Oxford on 9 July 1605, and D.D. on 11 July 1615. He was household chaplain to Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, and attended him through his last illness in 1612.

Bowle held at one time the living of Tilehurst, Berkshire. He became dean of Salisbury in July 1620, preached before the king and parliament on 3 February 1621, and was elected bishop of Rochester on 14 December 1629. He died on 9 October 1637, and his body was interred in St. Paul's Cathedral. Archbishop William Laud, in his account of his archiepiscopate addressed to Charles I for 1637, complained that Bowle had been ill for three years before his death, and had neglected his diocese.