Sir John Bowring, or Phrayā Siam Mānukūlakicca Siammitra Mahāyaśa (17 October 1792 – 23 November 1872) was a British political economist, traveller, writer, literary translator, polyglot and the fourth Governor of Hong Kong. He was appointed by Queen Victoria as emissary to Siam, later he was appointed by King Mongkut of Siam as ambassador to London, also making a treaty of amity with Siam on 18 April 1855, now referred to as the "Bowring Treaty". His namesake treaty was fully effective for 70 years, until the reign of Vajiravudh. This treaty was gradually edited and became completely ineffective in 1938 under the government of Plaek Phibunsongkhram. Later, he was sent as a commissioner of Britain to the newly created Kingdom of Italy in 1861. He died in Claremont in Devon on 23 November 1872.

Early life

Bowring was born in Exeter of Charles Bowring (1769–1856 His last formal education was at a Unitarian school in Moretonhampstead and he started work in his father's business at age 13. Espousal of Unitarian faith was illegal in Britain until Bowring had turned 21. He travelled extensively and was imprisoned in Boulogne-sur-Mer for six weeks in 1822

Political economist career

Bowring had begun contributing to the newly founded Westminster Review and had been appointed its editor by Bentham in 1825.

He pleaded earnestly on behalf of parliamentary reform, Catholic emancipation, and popular education. Bentham failed in an attempt to have Bowring appointed professor of English or History at University College London in 1827 but, after Bowring visited the Netherlands in 1828, the University of Groningen conferred on him the degree of doctor of laws in February the next year for his Sketches of the Language and Literature of Holland. as well as Syria, Switzerland, Italy, and some of the states in Imperial Germany. The results of these missions appeared in a series of reports laid before the House of Commons and even a paper delivered to the British Association of Science with his observations on containment of the plague in the Levant. Move your cursor to identify him on the second row to the right or click the icon to enlarge

On a still narrow, landed constituency, Bowring, campaigning on a radical and, to Marx and Engels, inconsistent platform of free trade and Chartism, secured a seat in parliament in 1841, as member for Bolton, perhaps England's constituency most affected by industrial upheaval and riven by deep social unrest bordering on revolution. Bowring sought to sustain his political career by investing heavily in the south Wales iron industry from 1843. Following huge demand for iron rails brought about by parliament's approval of massive railway building from 1844 to 1846, He agreed to a compromise that directly led to the issue of the florin (one-tenth of a pound sterling), introduced as a first step in 1848, by way of pattern coins not issued for circulation, and in 1849 as a circulating coin known as the 'Godless' Florin due to it omitting the words 'DEI GRATIA' in the obverse legend. As the 1849 coins proved unpopular, the coins were redesigned accordingly and went into general production 3 years later in 1852 and became known as 'Gothic Head' Florins remaining in production until 1887. He lost his seat in 1849 but went on to publish a work entitled The Decimal System in Numbers, Coins and Accounts in 1854. had been appointed Justice of the Peace had warned that Bowring was "no fit representative of Government, and no safe guardian of British interests", that he was dangerous and would lead Britain into war with China, and that he should be recalled. Her pleas went unheeded.

Bowring was an extremely industrious reformist governor. He allowed the Chinese citizens in Hong Kong to serve as jurors in trials and become lawyers. He is credited with establishing Hong Kong's first commercial public water supply system. He developed the eastern Wan Chai area at a river mouth near Happy Valley and Victoria Harbour by elongating the river as a canal, the area being named Bowring City (Bowrington). By instituting the Buildings and Nuisances Ordinance, No. 8 of 1856, in the face of stiff opposition, Bowring ensured the safer design of all future construction projects in the colony. He sought to abolish monopolies. This was a turning point for Bowring who, cornered, all but abandoned his liberality in favour of sharply curtailed civil liberties. He bemoaned:

<blockquote>It is a perplexing position to know that a price is set on our heads, that our servants cannot be trusted, that a premium is offered to any incendiary who will set fire to our dwellings, to any murderer who will poison or destroy us. ... We have many grievances to redress, and I will try to redress them; many securities to obtain, and I mean to obtain them. ... many unfortunate wretches of all nations (as the hatred of the Chinese is indiscriminating) have been seized, decaptitated; and their heads have been exposed on the walls of Canton, their assailants having been largely rewarded; ... All this is sufficiently horrible ... we shall exact indemnities for the past, and obtain securities for the future. We shall not crouch before assassination and incendiarism ... I did all that depended upon me to promote conciliation and establish peace. ... but every effort I made was treated with scorn and repulsion. The forbearance with which the Chinese have been treated has been wholly misunderstood by them, and attributed to our apprehensions of their great power, and awe of the majesty of the 'Son of Heaven'. So they have disregarded the most solemn engagements of treaties, and looked upon us as 'barbarians,' ... I doubt not that Government, Parliament, and public opinion will go with us in this great struggle, ... Negotiations were buoyed by the cordiality between Mongkut and Bowring and an agreement was reached on 17 April 1855, on 29 November 1858, returning seven weeks later. Many of his contemporaries and subsequent biographers thought otherwise. His chief literary work was the translation of the folk-songs of most European nations, although he also wrote original poems and hymns, and books or pamphlets on political and economic subjects. and Poetry of the Magyars (1830).

Bowring's 88 published hymns include "God is love: his mercy brightens", "In the Cross of Christ I glory", and "Watchman, tell us of the night".

"In the Cross" and "Watchman", both from his privately published collection Hymns (1825), are still used in many churches. The American composer Charles Ives used part of Watchman, Tell Us of the Night in the opening movement of his Fourth Symphony.

Selected publications:

  • Specimens of the Russian Poets (1821–1823)
  • Peter Schlemihl, translated from German (1824)
  • Batavian Anthology; or, Specimens of the Dutch Poets (1824)
  • Ancient Poetry and Romances of Spain (1824)
  • Hymns (privately published, 1825)
  • Matins and Vespers with Hymns and Occasional Devotional Pieces (1827)
  • His fourth son, Edgar Alfred Bowring, was a Member of Parliament for Exeter from 1868 to 1874. E. A. Bowring is also known as an able translator in the literary circles of the time.
  • Lewin Bentham Bowring was a member of the Bengal Civil Service. He served as private secretary in India to Lord Canning and Lord Elgin, and later as commissioner of Mysore.
  • His daughter, Emily, became a Roman Catholic nun and was known as Sister Emily Aloysia Bowring. She was the first headmistress of the Italian Convent School (now known as the Sacred Heart Canossian College) in Hong Kong, serving from 1860 until her death in 1870. She was a prominent Unitarian Christian and supporter of the women's suffrage movement.

John Bowring died on 23 November 1872, aged 80.

  • Fellow, Royal Society and Royal Geographical Society
  • Phrayā Siam Mānukūlakicca Siammitra Mahāyaśa (Honorary Lord Royal Fellow of Siam: พระยาสยามานุกูลกิจ สยามิตรมหายศ)
  • Elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1834.

Legacy

thumb|right|Bowrington Canal in the 1920s

thumb|Bowrington Road, Hong Kong, in 2017

Bowring is credited with popularising Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Kubla Khan or a Vision in a Dream which had been disparaged by the critics and discarded soon after first publication.

Bowring was the founder of Hastings Unitarian Church in Hastings, East Sussex, which was built between 1867 and 1868.

Actress Susannah York was the great-great-granddaughter of Bowring.

Journalist and historian Philip Bowring is a descendant of Bowring's great uncle Nathaniel. He is the author of a partial biography of Bowring, Free Trade's First Missionary (2014).