Hugh H. Bownes

Who was Hugh H. Bownes?

Hugh Henry Bownes was a long-serving federal judge in the United States. A native of New York City, Bownes graduated from Columbia College in 1941, and after serving in the United States Marine Corps during World War II, graduated from Columbia Law School in 1948.

Bownes then moved to New Hampshire, where he practiced law for more than 15 years. He served as a city council member and then as mayor of Laconia, New Hampshire. In 1966, he was selected as a member of the Superior Court of New Hampshire, on which he served for two years.

In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson named Bownes as judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter promoted Bownes to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Bownes served as an active judge of the First Circuit from 1977 to 1989. In 1990, Bownes took senior status on the First Circuit but continued hearing cases until his death in 2003.