Alexander Bowman

Who was Alexander Bowman?

Alexander Bowman was an Irish politician and trade unionist.

Baptised Patrick McKeown, he was always known as "Alexander" to his family, and acquired the surname "Bowman" to match that of his older half-siblings. Bowman was baptised on 17 March 1854 as a Roman Catholic, but brought up as a Presbyterian. A temperance campaigner in his youth, he joined the Flaxdressers' Trade and Benevolent Union and, in 1881, became the first secretary of the Belfast Trades Council. He also served as secretary of the Irish Land Restoration Committee, a Georgist organisation. Politically a supporter of William Gladstone and the Liberal Party, this led him to favour home rule for Ireland, and he became a regular speaker at Irish National League meetings, and secretary of the Irish Protestant Home Rule Association.

Bowman stood for Belfast North at the 1885 UK general election, becoming perhaps the first working-class candidate to stand in Ireland. His candidacy has been described by his biographer as "independent Labour", and by F. W. S. Craig as Liberal. He was defeated by William Ewart, the Conservative Party candidate, who was his former employer.