Thomas William Bowlby (1818-1860)
From Gibraltar to China with an articled clerkship to Russell Bowlby Sunderland/South Shields
I was absolutely delighted to receive this obituary a photograph of Mr Bowlby in an edition of the Illustrated London News (1) from James Mulholland the editor of the South Shields local history newsletter. Having transcribed the minutes in 2012 of South Shields Free Library: 20th February 1788-1802 as well as the Exchange Subscription Room in the Town Hall South Shields 1800 -1855 I then started profiling the two hundred or so members, the leading men of the day who lived in the town or in close proximity. This has provided me with an insight into the connections between the members and their associations with regard to business, politics and not least of all marriages. The information is in a document of some 312 pages, ostensibly of faceless men! This photograph has brought one of the faceless men Thomas William Bowlby alive!
It was from this page (2) that I extracted the information about the early January meeting in 1844. The attendance at the meeting two weeks later was more extensive.
Meeting of Subscribers of the Exchange News Room: - 3rd Jan 1844
Present: - Henry Anderson, Joseph Anderson, Joseph Anderson, Thomas Bell, John Best, Thomas Bowlby, John Davison, Robert Dawson, William H Fairbairn, Thomas Forsyth, Timothy Matterson, Edward Pattison, Matthew Pattison, John Paxton, John Robinson, Jnr., Henry Snowball, Thomas Tindle, Baker Trotter, Charles A Wawn, Robert Wilson, Dr Thomas M Winterbottom, John Wright & James Young
Admitted as a Member: - Mr William White (Ogle Terrace), proposed by Mr John Paxton was balloted for and unanimously admitted as a Member of this Room (transcription written in alphabetical order). (3)
My profile of Thomas William Bowlby is perhaps the most fascinating of all the men who ever attended a meeting at the Old Town Hall in the Market Place. Born in Gibraltar in 1818 he died in China, in Tungchow, on 22 September 1860 from the effects of the treatment he received during his imprisonment whilst on an assignment for the 'Times' newspaper.
The first reference I had of Thomas William Bowlby was in connection with my extensive (and yet unfinished writing of Russell Bowlby: The MP That Never Was.
He was a cousin of Russell Bowlby and an apprenticed to him whilst living in Bishopwearmouth. On qualifying he practiced as a solicitor in Sunderland and South Shields until 1846 rising to the position of Junior Partner to the firm of Lawrence, Crowdy and Bowlby.
'1831, 9 Dec - John Russell Bowlby (1815-1886) Gentleman of the Kings Bench made oath that Thomas William Bowlby (1818-1860); should be an Articled Attorney of Law & Solicitor in Chancery for 5 years to Russell Bowlby (1792-1865) ‘Attorney of His Majesty’s Kings Bench & of all the Temporal Courts in the County Palatine of Durham & Sadbergh’; his father Thomas Bowlby (1790-1842) a guarantor. Signed by Commissioner for Oaths, Henry Anderson (1787-1842)' (4).
Biography: Early Years
He was born at a garrison in Gibraltar 7th January 1818 where his parents had married the previous year; his father Lieut. Thomas Bowlby (1790-1842) of the Royal Artillery was stationed. His mother was Williamina Martha Arnold Balfour (1800-1834) a wealthy heiress, the daughter of Jean Ogilvie (1770-1802) & General William Balfour (1759-1811). Thomas Bowlby was the son of Eleonora Elizabeth Salvin (1760-1842), and the Reverend Thomas Bowlby (1760-1842).
'Thomas Bowlby, Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery, Batchelor and Williamina Martha Arnold Balfour, Spinster were married by licence in this Garrison, the first day of February, in the Year of our Lord, One Thousand Eight Hundred and seventeen, by me Ch. A. Mackereth, Chaplain to the Forces Gibraltar, February 1st, 1817'. (5)
Williamina Balfour: Portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A. (6)
The family returned to England to Durham City where Lieutenant Thomas Bowlby (promoted to Captain) had spent his formative years. He was born on the 27th September 1762 living in the North Bailey in the City. Thomas William was subsequently christened at the Church of St Mary le Bow in Durham City on the 24th January 1818. In the Bishop’s Transcripts, the address is given as Bell Lane, Durham. (7)
Retiring from the army in 1825 on half-pay due to unspecified ill-health, Captain Thomas Bowlby, settled in Bishopwearmouth, Sunderland firstly in Nile Street and then in Green Street with his wife and three children John George Bowlby (1820-1842), Jane Catherine Helen Bowlby (1821-1911 as well as Thomas William. There were family connections with Sunderland through his maternal line, that of Eleonora Elizabeth (Salvin) Bowlby his mother. The Salvin family can be dated back to the late seventeenth century in the Sunderland Bridge area.
On leaving the army, Captain Bowlby seems not to have settled on another career, investing in a timber business, he was also a ship owner and purchased railway stock and was a director of the Durham and Sunderland Railway. However, he did move in the significant circles in Sunderland. (8)
Sunderland Harbour Bill in March 1830 for the ‘Improvement and Preservation of the River Wear, and the Port and Haven of Sunderland, in the County Palatine of Durham’. On the enactment of the bill, the Earl of Shaftesbury proposed that the petitioners should be named:- Pr. 9.1.9. After "Tennyon" insert "Lord Viscount Seaham, Lord Adolphus Vane, Hon. Charles William Lambton, Hon. George Frederick D'Arcy Lambton, Russell Bowlby of Cleadon, Thomas Bowlby (Sunderland), John Carr (Sunderland), Joseph Spence (Sunderland), Abraham Storey (Chester-le-Street), William Redhead (Newcastle), George Hill (Newcastle). (9)
A further seven children were born to Williamina and Captain Thomas Bowlby in the town: - Charles Halkett Norborne Bowlby (1824-1859), Anthony Carthwaite Temple Bowlby (1826-1868), Alfred Picton Bowlby (1828-1878), Mina Alethea Bowlby (1830-1894), Frances Martha Bowlby (1834-1834), Eleanor Bowlby (1834-1834).
Thomas William Bowlby was educated at the local Grange School where he was tutored by Dr Cowan, a Scottish school teacher living in the town. His mother, Williamina died in 1834 on the 6th February, eight days after her new born twin daughters. Her eldest son, Thomas William was aged sixteen and only partly through his indenture to Russell Bowlby. A family tragedy to say the least and perhaps especially devastating for Thomas William, her eldest son.
It was eighteen months later that Thomas re-married in Canonbie, Dumfries, Scotland to Margaret Mein (1804–1882); she was christened as Margaret Matilda Graeme but adopted the surname of her stepfather Pulteney Mein Dr (1769–1853).
Thomas continued to live in Bishopwearmouth where five children were born to Margaret, stepmother of Thomas William: - Eleanora Elizabeth Bowlby (1836–1837), Marianne Josephine Bowlby (1838–1866), Frances Matilda Bowlby (1839–1902), Pulteney Edward Bowlby (1840–1925), Thomasina Margaret Bowlby (1842–1909). Thomas fathered fourteen children, nine to his first wife and five to his second.
1841 Census
At the family home in Green Street, Bishopwearmouth, Thomas William Bowlby is given as the eldest resident. He was aged 23 years, a solicitor at home with his siblings Jane (19), Anthony (15), Alfred (12) and his half-siblings Marianne (3), Frances (1) and Pulteney (6 months) supported by four servants.
Comment: - From the perspective of the norms of today, it seems incredible that Thomas and Margaret were absent leaving the eldest son to take on the paternal role of six siblings supported by four servants. The household evidently relied on servants presumably one of whom was a wet nurse.
Deaths, Births, Changes and Responsibility 1842
28 January : Captain Thomas Bowlby, father died in Green Street, Bishopwearmouth.
15 August: Eleonora Elizabeth (Salvin) Bowlby, paternal grandmother died in Durham City.
9 April: Russell Bowlby, mentor/employer issued with a Fiat in Bankruptcy rescinded 24th June by The Lord High Chancellor.
14th September: Thomasina Margaret Bowlby (1842–1909) half-sister born Green Street, Bishopwearmouth, eight months after her father’s death.
October 1842: prepared documentation for the claim for army pensions for his stepmother Margaret Bowlby and his siblings. This was only granted for his three full siblings on the grounds that Captain Bowlby’s second marriage was post 1825 when he had retired on half pay. Margaret Bowlby nor her four surviving children had any entitlement. (8)
27th October 1842: Assistant Surgeon John George Bowlby (1820-1842)-brother died of yellow fever in St Lucia. He had enlisted on the 20th August 1841 joining the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment (33rd Foot).
COMMENT
The events related are all prior to the attendance of Thomas William Bowlby at the South Shields Market Place meeting. By the end of the decade he had moved south married and changed the direction of his career.
References
1. The Illustrated London News: Saturday, 31st December 1961 (note name given incorrectly as F W Bowlby)
2. South Shields Free Library: 20th February 1788-1802-The Word, South Shields
3. Profiles of members shown in Part 2
4. UK Articles of Clerkship 1756-1874. Ancestry. UK
5. UK, British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1730-1960
6. Dated about 1824 (courtesy of Ancestry.UK Shillaker originally shared this on 30 Jul 2019)
7. Bishop’s Transcripts (Durham) ca.1639-1919. Ancestry. UK
8.Profiles in Part 2
9 'House of Commons Journal 11 May 1830', Vol. 85, 1830 (London), pp. 400-408-British History On-line