View source for John Bowring

{{Short description|English politician (1792–1872)}}
{{for|his son, the Hong Kong businessman|John Charles Bowring}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Sir John Bowring
| honorific_suffix    = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCB|FRS|FRGS}}
| image               = Sir John Bowring by John King.jpg
| caption             = John Bowring in 1826
| order               = 4th
| office              = Governor of Hong Kong
| monarch             = [[Queen Victoria|Victoria]]
| 1blankname          = [[Lieutenant Governor of Hong Kong|Lieutenant Governor]]
| 1namedata           = {{plainlist|1=
*[[Major general|MG]] [[William Jervois (British Army officer)|William Jervois]]
*[[Major general|MG]] [[Robert Garrett (British Army officer)|Robert Garrett]]
*[[Major general|MG]] [[Thomas Ashburnham (general)|Thomas Ashburnham]]
*[[Major general|MG]] [[Charles van Straubenzee]]
}}
| term_start          = 13 April 1854
| term_end            = 9 September 1859
| predecessor         = [[George Bonham|Sir George Bonham]]
| successor           = [[Hercules Robinson, 1st Baron Rosmead]]
| office1             = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]]<br />for [[Bolton (UK Parliament constituency)|Bolton]]
| term_start1         = 1841
| term_end1           = 1849
| alongside1          = [[Peter Ainsworth (Bolton MP)|Peter Ainsworth]] (1841–1847), [[William Bolling (MP)|William Bolling]] (1847–1848) and [[Stephen Blair]] (1848–1849)
| predecessor1        = {{ubl|[[Peter Ainsworth (Bolton MP)|Peter Ainsworth]]|[[William Bolling (MP)|William Bolling]]}}
| successor1          = [[Stephen Blair]]<br />[[Joshua Walmsley]]
| office2             = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]]<br />for [[Kilmarnock Burghs (UK Parliament constituency)|Kilmarnock Burghs]]
| term_start2         = 1835
| term_end2           = 1837
| predecessor2        = [[John Dunlop (Scottish politician)|John Dunlop]]
| successor2          = [[John Campbell Colquhoun]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1792|10|17|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Exeter]], [[Devon]], England
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1872|11|23|1792|10|17|df=y}}
| death_place         = Claremont, Devon, England
| party               = [[Radicals (UK)|Radical]]
| profession          = [[Member of Parliament (UK)]]
| spouse              = {{plainlist}}
* {{marriage|Maria Lewin|1816|1858|end=died}}
* {{marriage|[[Deborah Bowring|Deborah Castle]]<br>|1860<!--|23 November 1872-->}}
{{endplainlist}}
| children            = {{hlist|[[John Charles Bowring|John Charles]]|[[Lewin Bentham Bowring|Lewin Bentham]]|[[Edgar Alfred Bowring|Edgar Alfred]]|Emily Aloysia}}
| signature           = 
| footnotes           = 
| module              = {{Infobox Chinese
| title             = John Bowring
| child             = yes
| c                 = 寶寧
| p                 = bǎo níng
| j                 = bou2 ning4
| altname2               = His name with [[Thai nobility|Thai noble title]]
| tha               = [[wikt:พระยา|พระยา]]สยามมานุกูลกิจ สยามมิตรมหายศ
| rtgs              = Phraya Sayam Manukunkit Sayammit Mahayot
}}
}}

'''Sir John Bowring''',{{refn|{{lang-zh|c=寶寧, 寶靈}}|group=note}} or '''Phrayā Siam Mānukūlakicca Siammitra Mahāyaśa'''{{refn|{{langx|th|พระยาสยามมานุกูลกิจ สยามมิตรมหายศ}}, {{RTGS|''Phraya Sayam Manukunkit Sayammit Mahayot''}}, {{IPA|th|pʰráʔ jaː sà jaːm maː núʔ kuːn kìt sà jaːm mít má hǎː jót|pron}}|group=note}} (17 October 1792 – 23 November 1872) was a British [[political economist]], traveller, writer, [[literary translator]], [[Polyglot (person)|polyglot]] and the fourth [[Governor of Hong Kong]]. He was appointed by [[Queen Victoria]] as emissary to Siam, later he was appointed by [[Mongkut|King Mongkut of Siam]] as ambassador to London, also making a [[Bowring Treaty|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, Devon|Claremont]] in [[Devon]] on 23 November 1872.

== Early life ==
Bowring was born in [[Exeter]] of Charles Bowring (1769–1856<ref name=Kyshe />{{rp|381}}), a wool merchant whose main market was China,<ref name=Kyshe />{{rp|596}} from an old [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] family, and Sarah Jane Anne (d. 1828), the daughter of Thomas Lane, vicar of [[St Ives, Cornwall]].<ref name="dnb">{{ODNB|first=Gerald |last=Stone |title=Bowring, Sir John (1792–1872) |orig-year=2004 |year=2009 |id=3087 }}</ref> His last formal education was at a [[Dissenting academy|Unitarian school]] in [[Moretonhampstead]] and he started work in his father's business at age 13.<ref name="dnb"/> Bowring at one stage wished to become a Unitarian minister.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/sirjohnbowring.html|title=Sir John Bowring|last=Ruston|first=Alan|website=Unitarian Universalist Historical Society|access-date=9 October 2017|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021231062320/https://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/sirjohnbowring.html|archive-date=31 December 2002}}</ref> Espousal of Unitarian faith was illegal in Britain until Bowring had turned 21.<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|17}}

Bowring acquired first experiences in trade as a contract provider to the British army during the [[Peninsular War]] in the early 1810s, initially for four years from 1811 as a clerk at Milford & Co. where he began picking up a variety of languages.<ref name=Kyshe />{{rp|597}} His experiences in Spain fed a healthy skepticism towards the administrative capabilities of the [[British Army|British military]].<ref name=PBowring>{{cite book|title=Free Trade's First Missionary: Sir John Bowring in Europe and Asia|last=Bowring|first=Philip|date=2014|isbn=9789888208722|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kEdBBAAAQBAJ}}</ref>{{rp|15}} He travelled extensively and was imprisoned in [[Boulogne-sur-Mer]] for six weeks in 1822<ref name=Kyshe />{{rp|597}} for suspected spying (though merely carrying papers for the [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portuguese]] envoy to Paris).<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|29–30}}

He incorporated Bowring & Co. with a partner in 1818 to sell herrings to Spain (including Gibraltar by a subsidiary) and France and to buy wine from Spain. It was during this period that he came to know [[Jeremy Bentham]],<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|23,28}} and later became his friend. He did not, however, share Bentham's contempt for ''[[belles lettres]]''. He was a diligent student of literature and foreign languages, especially those of Eastern Europe. He somehow found time to write 88 hymns during this time, most published between 1823 and 1825.<ref name=PBowring/>{{rp|43}}

Failure of his business in 1827, amidst his Greek revolution financing adventure, left him reliant on Bentham's charity and seeking a new, literary direction.<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|35–40}} Bentham's personal secretary at the time, [[John Neal]], labelled Bowring a "meddling, gossiping, sly, and treacherous man"<ref name=Neal/>{{rp|275}} and charged him with deceiving investors in his Greek adventure and mismanaging Bentham's funds for Bowring's own prestige with the ''[[Westminster Review]]'' and an early public [[gym]]nasium.<ref name=Neal>{{cite book | last = Neal | first = John | title = Wandering Recollections of a Somewhat Busy Life | publisher = Roberts Brothers | location = Boston, Massachusetts | year = 1869 | url = https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100576292 | oclc = 1056818562 | author-link = John Neal}}</ref>{{rp|273–288}}

== Political economist career ==
Bowring had begun contributing to the newly founded ''[[Westminster Review]]'' and had been appointed its editor by Bentham in 1825.<ref name=Munn /> By his contributions to the ''Review'' he attained considerable repute as a political economist and parliamentary reformer. He advocated in its pages the cause of [[free trade]] long before it was popularized by [[Richard Cobden]] and [[John Bright]], co-founders of the Anti-Corn Law League in Manchester in 1838:<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|46,66}} "Jesus Christ is Free Trade, and Free Trade is Jesus Christ."<ref name=freechrist>As cited in: [[Image:wikisource-logo.svg|16x16px|alt=wikisource logo]] {{cite book 
| last= Marx | first = Karl | author-link = Karl Marx
| translator-last = Kelley | translator-first = Florence | translator-link = Florence Kelley
| date = 1902
| title = [[:s:en:Wage-Labor and Capital (Lothrop)/Free Trade/Free Trade#29|Free Trade]]
| p = 29
}}</ref>

He pleaded earnestly on behalf of [[Reform Act 1832|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.''<ref name=Kyshe/>{{rp|598}} In 1830, he was in [[Denmark]], preparing for the publication of a collection of [[Scandinavia]]n poetry.<ref name=EB1911/> As a member of the 1831 Royal Commission, he advocated strict parliamentary control on public expenditure, and considered the ensuing reform one of his main achievements.<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|102}} Till 1832, he was Foreign Secretary of the [[British and Foreign Unitarian Association]].

Bowring was appointed Jeremy Bentham's [[literary executor]] a week before the latter's 1832 death in his arms, and was charged with the task of preparing a collected edition of his works. The appointment was challenged by a nephew but Bowring prevailed in court.<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|41}} The work appeared in eleven volumes in 1843,<ref name=EB1911/> notably omitting Bentham's most controversial works on female sexuality and homosexuality.<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|61}}

Free trade took on the dimensions of faith to Bowring who, in 1841, quipped, "Jesus Christ is free trade and free trade is Jesus Christ", adding, in response to consternation at the proposition, that it was "intimitely associated with religious truth and the exercise of religious principles".<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|19}}

== Politician industrialist ==
Through Bentham connections and in spite of his radicalism, Bowring was appointed to carry out investigations of the national accounting systems of the Netherlands and France in 1832 by the government and House of Commons, respectively. The mark left by his work in France was not welcomed by all; as one commentator remarked,

<blockquote> Of all men, high or low, that I ever met in society, this Dr Bowring is the most presuming and the most conceited. He is a fit ''charlatan'', for Whig employment; pushing and overbearing in his manner, and, like other ''parvenus'', assuming an official importance which is highly ridiculous.<ref name=Kyshe />{{rp|387–88}}</blockquote>

Yet his work was so highly regarded by the Whig government that he was then appointed secretary of the Royal Commission on the Public Accounts. He had made his name as something of an expert on government accounting.<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|53–55}} He stood the same year for the newly created industrial constituency of Blackburn but was unsuccessful.<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|59}}

In 1835, Bowring entered parliament as member for [[Kilmarnock Burghs (UK Parliament constituency)|Kilmarnock Burghs]];<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|63}} and in the following year he was appointed head of a government commission to be sent to France to inquire into the actual state of commerce between the two countries. After losing his seat in 1837, he was busied in further economic investigations in Egypt, for which he produced a very extensive report,<ref>{{cite book |last=Bowring |first=J. |orig-date=1840 |year=2021 |title=Report on Egypt 1823–1838 |publisher=Projectis Publishing |location=London |isbn=9781913984120 }}</ref> 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 [[British House of Commons|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.<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|73,81}} He also spoke out passionately for equal rights for women and the abolition of slavery.<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|97–98}}
{{Anti-Slavery Society Convention 1840|align=right|size=300px|caption=Bowring appears in this painting of the 1840 [[World's Anti-Slavery Convention]].<ref name=npg>[http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw00028/The-Anti-Slavery-Society-Convention-1840?LinkID=mp02100&role=art&wPage=1&rNo=13 Anti-Slavery Society Convention 1840], National Portrait Gallery, London</ref> 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 (UK Parliament constituency)|Bolton]], perhaps England's constituency most affected by industrial upheaval and riven by deep social unrest bordering on revolution.<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|85}} In the House, he campaigned for free trade, adoption of the Charter, repeal of the Corn Laws, improved administration of the Poor Law, open borders, abolition of the death penalty, and an end to flogging in the Army and payments to Church of England prelates.<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|88–91}}

During this busy period he found leisure for literature, and published in 1843 a translation of the ''Manuscript of the Queen's Court'', a collection of Czech medieval poetry,<ref name=EB1911/> later considered false by Czech poet [[Václav Hanka]]. In 1846 he became President of the [[Giuseppe Mazzini|Mazzinian]] People's International League.

Without inherited wealth, or salary as MP for Bolton,<ref>MPs in the UK Parliament received no salary until early in the following century.</ref> 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,<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|112}} Bowring led a small group of wealthy London merchants and bankers as Chairman of the [[River Llynfi|Llynvi]] Iron Company and established a large integrated ironworks at [[Maesteg]] in Glamorgan during 1845–46. He installed his brother, Charles, as Resident Director and lost no time in naming the district around his ironworks, Bowrington. He gained a reputation in the Maesteg district as an enlightened employer, one contemporary commenting that 'he gave the poor their rights and carried away their blessing'.<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|113}}

In 1845 he became Chairman of the [[London and Blackwall Railway]], the world's first steam-powered urban passenger railway and the precursor of the whole [[London Rail]] system.<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|107}}

[[File:SirJohnBowring(died1872) ByEBStephens Devon&ExeterInstitution.PNG|thumb|upright|Marble bust of Bowring by [[Edward Bowring Stephens]] (1815–1882) of Exeter. Collection of [[Devon and Exeter Institution]], Exeter, of which he was president 1860–1861]] 
Bowring distinguished himself as an advocate of [[decimal currency]]. On 27 April 1847, he addressed the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] on the merits of decimalisation.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37127716 |title=English News: Parliamentary Intelligence |newspaper=[[The Australian (1824 newspaper)|The Australian]] |location=Sydney, NSW |date=3 September 1847 |access-date=13 October 2013 |page=3 }}</ref> He agreed to a compromise that directly led to the issue of the [[British two shilling coin|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 and reverse|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.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Florin|url=http://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/coins/british-coinage/old-denominations/florin/|work=Royal Mint Museum|publisher=Royal Mint, Llantrisant, Wales|access-date=13 October 2013|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304042352/http://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/coins/british-coinage/old-denominations/florin/|url-status=dead}}</ref> He lost his seat in 1849 but went on to publish a work entitled ''The Decimal System in Numbers, Coins and Accounts'' in 1854.<ref name=EB1911/>

The [[Panic of 1847|trade depression of the late 1840s]] caused the failure of his venture in south Wales in 1848 and wiped out his capital,<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|126}} forcing Bowring into paid employment. His business failure led directly to his acceptance of [[Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston|Palmerston]]'s offer of the consulship at Canton.

== Canton ==
By 1847, Bowring had assembled an impressive array of credentials: honorary diplomas from universities in Holland and Italy, fellowships of the Linnean Society of London and Paris, the Historical Institute of the Scandinavian and Icelandic Societies, the Royal Institute of the Netherlands, the Royal Society of Hungary, the Royal Society of Copenhagen, and of the Frisian and Athenian Societies. Numerous translations and works on foreign languages, politics and economy had been published. His zeal in Parliament and standing as a literary man were well known.<ref name=Kyshe />{{rp|227}}

In 1849, he was appointed British [[Consulate general|consul]] at Canton (today's [[Guangzhou]]), and superintendent of trade in China. Arriving on [[HMS Medea (1833)|HMS ''Medea'']] on 12 April 1849, he took up the post in which he was to remain for four years the next day.<ref name=Kyshe />{{rp|236}} His son [[J. C. Bowring|John Charles]] had preceded him to China, arriving in Hong Kong in 1842,<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|116}}<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Annals and Magazine of Natural History |series=Series 1 |volume=14 |issue=93|pages=422–26|date=1844|title=Descriptions of some new species of coleoptera and Homoptera from China|last=White|first=Adam |doi=10.1080/037454809495213|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1430530}}</ref> had been appointed Justice of the Peace<ref name=Kyshe />{{rp|322}} and was at one point a partner in [[Jardine Matheson|Jardines]].<ref name=Munn />

Bowring was quickly appalled by endemic corruption and frustrated by finding himself powerless in the face of Chinese breaches of the Treaty of Nanking and refusal to receive him at the diplomatic level or permit him to travel to Peking, and by his being subordinate to the Governor of Hong Kong who knew nothing of his difficulties.<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|128–30}}

For almost a year from 1852 to 1853, he acted as Britain's Plenipotentiary and Superintendent of Trade and Governor of Hong Kong in the absence on leave of [[George Bonham|Sir George Bonham]], who he was later to succeed.<ref name=Munn />

Bowring was instrumental in the 1855 formation of the Board of Inspectors established under the Qing Customs House, operated by the British to gather statistics on trade on behalf of the Qing government and, later, as the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs Service, to collect all customs duties. This was a vital reform which brought an end to the corruption of government officials and led modernisation of China's international trade.<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|135–37}} Concerned for the welfare of coolies being exported to Australia, California, Cuba and the West Indies, and disturbed by the coolie revolt in Amoy in May 1852, Bowring tightened enforcement of the Passenger Act so as to improve coolie transportation conditions and ensure their voluntariness.<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|138–39}}

== Governor of Hong Kong ==
[[File:Sir John Bowring.jpg |thumb|Sir John Bowring, 4th Governor of Hong Kong]]
The newly knighted Bowring received his appointment as [[Governor of Hong Kong]] and her Majesty's Plenipotentiary and Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China on 10 January 1854. He arrived in Hong Kong and was sworn in on 13 April 1854,<ref name=Kyshe />{{rp|339–340}} in the midst of the [[Taiping Rebellion]] occupying the attentions of his primary protagonists and the [[Crimean War]] distracting his masters.<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|143–46}} He was appointed over strong objections from opponents in London. Fellow Unitarian [[Harriet Martineau]]<ref>{{cite book|title=Enlightenment and Religion: Rational Dissent in Eighteenth-Century Britain|last=Haakonssen|first=Knud|date=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521029872|page=307}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Martineau>{{cite book|title=Harriet Martineau, Victorian Imperialism, and the Civilizing Mission|last=Logan|first=Deborah A|date=2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317123644}}{{rp|173–74}}</ref>

Bowring was an extremely industrious reformist governor. He allowed the Chinese citizens in Hong Kong to serve as [[juror]]s 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, Hong Kong|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,<ref name=Kyshe>{{cite book|title=History of the Laws and Courts of Hong Kong|last=Norton-Kyshe|first=James William|date=1898|publisher=T Fisher Unwin|place=London}}</ref>{{rp|398}} Bowring ensured the safer design of all future construction projects in the colony. He sought to abolish monopolies.<ref name=Munn />

Bowring was impressed by the yawning gulf of misunderstanding between the expatriate and Chinese communities, writing, "We rule them in ignorance and they submit in blindness."<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|170}} Notwithstanding, in 1856, Bowring went so far as to attempt democratic reform. He proposed that the constitution of the [[Legislative Council of Hong Kong|Legislative Council]] be changed to increase membership to 13 members, of whom five be elected by landowners enjoying rents exceeding 10 pounds, but this was rejected by [[Henry Labouchère]] of the Colonial Office on the basis that Chinese residents were "deficient in the essential elements of morality on which social order rests". The constituency would only have amounted to 141 qualified electors, in any event.<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|164}}

He was equally impressed by the dearth of expenditure on education, noting that 70 times more was provided for policing than for instruction of the populace, so he rapidly brought in an inspectorate of schools, training for teachers and opening of schools. Student number increased nearly ten-fold.<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|173}}

He became embroiled in numerous conflicts and disputes, not least of which was a struggle for dominance with Lieutenant Governor [[William Caine (Hong Kong)|William Caine]], which went all the way back to the Colonial Office for resolution. He won.<ref name=Munn /> He was faulted for failing to prevent a scandalous action in slander, in 1856, by the assistant magistrate W. H. Mitchell against his attorney-general [[Thomas Chisholm Anstey|T. Chisholm Anstey]] over what was essentially a misapprehension of fact but which was thought "unique in all the scandals of modern government of the Colonies or of English Course of Justice".<ref name=Kyshe />{{rp|405}}

A Qing-sponsored campaign of civil disruption, threatening the very survival of the British administration, culminated in the [[Esing Bakery incident]] of 15 January 1857 in which 10 pounds of arsenic was mixed in the flour of the colony's principal bakery, poisoning many hundreds, killing Bowring's wife and debilitating him for at least a year.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.scmp.com/article/578666/racial-tensions-mixed-dash-arsenic-and-yeast | title=Racial tensions mixed with a dash of arsenic and yeast|date=2007-01-15|author=Bonny Schoonakker|newspaper=South China Morning Post}}</ref> 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, ...<ref name=Kyshe />{{rp|423–24}}</blockquote>

==Diplomacy==
In 1855, Bowring experienced a reception in [[Rattanakosin Kingdom|Siam]] that could not have stood in starker contrast to Peking's constant intransigence. He was welcomed like foreign royalty, showered with pomp (including a 21-gun salute), and his determination to forge a trade accord was met with the open-minded and intelligent interest of King [[Mongkut]].<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|192}}<ref name=Munn>{{cite book|title=Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography |editor=May Holdsworth |editor2=Christopher Munn|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|date=2012|last=Munn|first=Christopher|isbn=9789888083664}}</ref>{{rp|43}} Negotiations were buoyed by the cordiality between Mongkut and Bowring and an agreement was reached on 17 April 1855,<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|194}} now commonly referred to as the [[Bowring Treaty]]. Bowring held Mongkut in high regard and that the feeling was mutual and enduring was confirmed by his 1867 appointment as Siam's ambassador to the courts of Europe. Bowring's delight in this "remarkable" monarch has been seen by at least one commentator as a possible encouragement to his frustration with Peking and rash handling of the ''Arrow'' affair.<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|197}}

== War and late career ==
In October 1856, a dispute broke out with the Canton vice-consul [[Ye Mingchen]] over the Chinese crew of a small British-flagged trading vessel, the ''Arrow''. Bowring saw the argument as an opportunity to wring from the Chinese the free access to Canton which had been promised in the [[Treaty of Nanking]] but so far denied. The irritation caused by his "spirited" or high-handed policy led to the [[Second Opium War]] (1856–1860).<ref name=EB1911/> Martineau put the war down to the "incompetence and self-seeking rashness of one vain man".<ref name=Martineau />{{rp|173–74}}

It was under Bowring that the colony's first ever bilingual English-Chinese law, "An Ordinance for licensing and regulating the sale of prepared opium" (Ordinance No. 2 of 1858), appeared on its statute books.<ref name=Kyshe />{{rp|467}}

In April the same year, Bowring was the subject of scandal when the case of criminal libel against the editor of the ''Daily Press'', Yorick J. Murrow, came to trial. Murrow had written of Bowring's having taken numerous steps to favour the trade of his son's firm, Messrs Jardine, Matheson & Co., enriching it as a result. Murrow, having been found guilty by the jury, emerged from six months' imprisonment to take up precisely where he left off, vilifying Bowring from his press.<ref name=Kyshe />{{rp|469–70}} The scandal was rekindled in December when Murrow brought an ultimately unsuccessful suit in damages against Bowring in connection with his imprisonment.<ref name=Kyshe />{{rp|568–69}}

A commission of inquiry into accusations of corruption, operating brothels and associating with leading underworld figures laid by Attorney-General Anstey against Registrar-General Daniel R Caldwell scandalised the administration. During the course of its proceedings Anstey had opportunity to viciously accuse [[William Thomas Bridges]], one-time acting Attorney-General and constant favourite of Bowring, for receiving stolen goods under the guise of running a money-lending operation from the ground floor of his residence, collecting debts at extortionate rates. The charges found unproved, Caldwell was exonerated and Anstey suspended, and Bridges later to be appointed acting Colonial Secretary by Bowring, but suspicions remained and Bowring's administration had been ruined.<ref name=Kyshe />{{rp|502–36}}

In mourning for the recent loss of his wife to the arsenic poisoning, Bowring made an official tour of the Philippines, sailing on the steam-powered paddle frigate [[HMS Magicienne (1849)|''Magicienne'']]<ref name=Visit>{{cite book |last=Bowring|first=Sir John |publisher= Smith, Elder & Co. |date=1859 |title=A Visit to the Philippine Islands |url=https://archive.org/details/avisittophilipp00bowrgoog|place= London}}</ref>{{rp|5}} on 29 November 1858, returning seven weeks later.<ref name=Kyshe />{{rp|564}}

Stripped of his diplomatic and trade powers,<ref name=Kyshe />{{rp|594–95}} weakened by the effects of the arsenic, and seeing his administration torn apart by anti-corruption inquiries in a campaign launched by him, Bowring's work in Hong Kong ended in May 1859.<ref name=Munn />{{rp|43–44}} His parting sentiment was that "a year of great embarrassment ... unhappy misunderstandings among officials, fomented by passionate partisanship and by a reckless and slanderous press, made the conduct of public affairs one of extreme difficulty."<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|183}} He plunged into writing a 434-page account of his Philippines sojourn which was published the same year.<ref name=Visit />

His last employment by the British government was as a commissioner to Italy in 1861, to report on British commercial relations with the new kingdom. Bowring subsequently accepted the appointment of minister [[plenipotentiary]] and envoy extraordinary from the [[Kingdom of Hawaii|Hawaiian]] government to the courts of Europe, and in this capacity negotiated treaties with Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.<ref name=EB1911/>

== Linguist and author ==
Bowring was an accomplished [[polyglot]] and claimed he knew 200 languages of which he could speak 100.<ref name="Short">{{SBDEL|wstitle=Bowring, Sir John|inline=1}}</ref> Many of his contemporaries and subsequent biographers thought otherwise.<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|50–52}}<ref group="note">Philip Bowring's 2014 observation (p. 50) responds to a version of this biography: 'The claim to fluency in dozens of languages was exaggerated, yet it has survived in some accounts today: ''Wikipedia'' describes him as "ranked ... among the world's greatest hyperglots—his talent enabling him at last to say that he knew 200 languages, and could speak 100".[note] Many of his contemporaries took the claims with a pinch of salt. Bowring's linguistic abilities became the butt of jokes in some quarters, not only among his enemies.'</ref> 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.<ref name="Short"/> The first fruits of his study of foreign literature appeared in ''Specimens of the Russian Poets'' (1821–1823). These were followed by ''Batavian Anthology'' (1824), ''Ancient Poetry and Romances of Spain'' (1824), ''Specimens of the Polish Poets'', and ''Serbian Popular Poetry'', both in 1827,<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Bowring, Sir John |volume=4 |page=349}}</ref> 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".<ref name="hymns">{{cite web|title=John Bowring|url=http://www.hymnary.org/person/Bowring_J|website=Hymnary.org|access-date=12 June 2016}}</ref>
"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 [[Symphony No. 4 (Ives)|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)<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|44}} 
* ''Specimens of the Polish Poets'' (1827)
* ''Serbian Popular Poetry'' (1827)
* ''Poetry of the Magyars'' (1830)
* ''Cheskian Anthology'' (1832)
* ''Bentham's Deontology'', edited (1834) [https://archive.org/details/deontologyorthes01bentuoft vol. 1], [https://archive.org/details/deontologyorthes02bentuoft vol. 2]
* ''[[Minor Morals for Young People]]'' (1834)
* ''Manuscript of the Queen's Court'' (1843)
* ''The Decimal System in Numbers, Coins and Accounts'' (1854)
* ''The Kingdom and People of Siam'' (1857), with foreword by King Mongkut [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003072108]
* ''A Visit to the Philippine Islands'' (1859) [https://books.google.com/books?id=Je1GAAAAcAAJ]
* ''Translations from [[Sándor Petőfi|Alexander Petőfi]]'' (1866) [https://archive.org/stream/translationfrom00bowrgoog#page/n5/mode/2up]

== Personal life ==
Bowring married twice. By his first wife, Maria (1793/94–1858), whom he married in 1818 after moving to London, he had five sons and four daughters (Maria, John, Frederick, Lewin, Edgar, Charles, Edith, Emily, and Gertrude). She died in September 1858, a victim of the arsenic poisoning of the bread supply in Hong Kong<ref name=Kyshe />{{rp|471}} during the [[Second Opium War]] sparked by her husband.<ref name="dnb"/><ref name=Munn />

*His son [[John Charles Bowring|John Charles]] was a keen amateur entomologist, ultimately amassing a collection of some 230,000 specimens of [[coleoptera]] which he donated to the [[British Museum]] in 1866.<ref>{{cite book|title=British Naturalists in Qing China|last=Fan|first=Fa-ti|publisher=Harvard University Press|page=203|date=2004|isbn=9780674011434}}</ref>
*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]],<ref name="timesobit">{{cite news |title=Sir John Bowring |newspaper=The Times |page=12 |date=25 November 1872 }}</ref> and later as commissioner of [[Kingdom of Mysore|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.<ref name=Kyshe />{{rp|596}}

Bowring married his second wife, [[Deborah Bowring|Deborah Castle]] (1816–1902), in 1860; they had no children. Deborah, Lady Bowring died in [[Exeter]] in July 1902.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Obituary |date=30 July 1902 |page=10 |issue=36833}}</ref> She was a prominent Unitarian Christian and supporter of the women's suffrage movement.<ref>{{ODNB|first=K. D. |last=Reynolds |title=Bowring [née Castle], Deborah, Lady Bowring (1816–1902) |year=2004 |id=56282 }}</ref>

John Bowring died on 23 November 1872, aged 80.<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|216}}

== Honours ==
* [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath]] (KCB), 1854
* Knight Grand Cross of the [[Royal Order of Kamehameha I]] of the [[Kingdom of Hawaii]], 1857.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.emedals.com/newly-listed/hawai-i-kingdom-a-royal-order-of-kamehameha-i-cgcok-knight-grand-cross-by-kretly-c-1870|website=eMedals|title=Grand Cross set thet belonged to John Bowring|access-date=7 October 2020}}</ref>
* 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americanantiquarian.org/memberlistb|website=American Antiquarian Society|title=Members|access-date=9 October 2017}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
[[Image:Bowrington Canal.jpg|thumb|right|Bowrington Canal in the 1920s]]
[[File:Bowrington Road, Hong Kong November 2017.jpg|thumb|Bowrington Road, Hong Kong, in 2017]]
Bowring is credited with popularising [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]]'s [[Kubla Khan|''Kubla Khan or a Vision in a Dream'']] which had been disparaged by the critics and discarded soon after first publication.<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|47–48}}

In the mid-19th century a district of the [[River Llynfi|Llynfi Valley]], [[Glamorgan]], south Wales was known as Bowrington as it was built up when John Bowring was chairman of the local iron company. Bowring's ironworks community later became part of the Maesteg Urban District. The name was revived in the 1980s when a shopping development in Maesteg was called the Bowrington Arcade.

Bowring Road, [[Ramsey, Isle of Man|Ramsey]], [[Isle of Man]], was named for him in appreciation of his support of universal suffrage for the [[House of Keys]] and his efforts to liberalise trade with the island.<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|92–93}}

As the 4th Governor, several places in Hong Kong came to be named after him:<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|173}}
* Bowring Praya West and Bowring Praya Central were two roads built on [[land reclamation in Hong Kong|reclaimed land]] during his tenure, but were respectively renamed [[Des Voeux Road West]] and [[Des Voeux Road Central]] in 1890 after the [[Praya Reclamation Scheme]].
* Bowrington, or Bowring City, is an area Bowring originally built around the estuary of the [[Wong Nai Chung Gap|Wong Nai Chung]] river, and is the site of the Bowrington Market. He built an extension named the Bowrington Canal, over which the original Bowrington Road (now called [[Canal Road, Hong Kong|Canal Road]]) and the Bowrington Bridge passed.<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|173}} A road running parallel to and one block to the west of Canal Road retains the name Bowrington Road and houses the street market which serves the district.
* Bowring Street in the district of [[Jordan, Hong Kong]]
He was also responsible for the establishment of the [[Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens|Botanic Gardens]] in Hong Kong, the most indelible mark he made on the colony.<ref name=PBowring />{{rp|173}}

Two species of lizards, ''[[Hemidactylus bowringii]]'' and ''[[Subdoluseps bowringii]]'', are named in honour of either John Bowring or his son [[John Charles Bowring]].<ref>Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. ("Bowring", p. 36).</ref>

Bowring was the founder of [[Hastings Unitarian Church]] in [[Hastings]], [[East Sussex]], which was built between 1867 and 1868.<ref>{{cite book|last=Elleray|first=D. Robert|title=The Victorian Churches of Sussex|year=1981|publisher=Phillimore & Co. Ltd|location=Chichester|isbn=0-85033-378-4|at=§. 136.}}</ref>

Actress [[Susannah York]] was the great-great-granddaughter of Bowring.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Simonson |first1=R. |title=Susannah York, Actress of Stage and Film, Dies at 72 |url=http://www.playbill.com/article/susannah-york-actress-of-stage-and-film-dies-at-72-com-175260 |publisher=2019 © Playbill Inc. All Rights Reserved |access-date=9 August 2019 |quote=Her (York's) maternal grandfather was Walter Andrew Bowring, a British diplomat, and her great-great-grandfather was political economist Sir John Bowring ...}}</ref>

Journalist and historian [[Philip Bowring]] is a descendant of Bowring's great uncle Nathaniel.<ref>{{cite web|website=Webb-Site|url=https://webb-site.com/dbpub/natperson.asp?p=12071009|title=Bowring, Benjamin (1710)}}</ref> He is the author of a partial biography of Bowring, ''Free Trade's First Missionary'' (2014).<ref name=PBowring />

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{Reflist|25em }}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal |first=G. F. |last=Bartle |title=Jeremy Bentham and John Bowring: a study of the relationship between Bentham and the editor of his ''Collected Works'' |journal=Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research |volume=36 |issue=93 |year=1963 |pages=27–35 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-2281.1963.tb00620.x}}
* {{cite book |first=George Frederick |last=Bartle |title=An old radical and his brood: a portrait of Sir John Bowring and his family based mainly on the correspondence of Bowring and his son, Frederick Bowring |place=London |publisher=Janus |year=1994 }}
* {{cite Maclise|Tydus-Pooh-Pooh|pages=74-76}}
* {{cite journal |last=Bowring |first=Philip |title=Sir John Bowring: the imperial role of a lifelong radical |journal=Asian Affairs |volume=42 |issue=3 |year=2011 |pages=419–29 |doi=10.1080/03068374.2011.605604|s2cid=163009129 }}
*{{cite book|last=Bowring|first=Philip|title=Free Trade's First Missionary: Sir John Bowring in Europe and Asia|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|date=2014|isbn=9789888208722}}
* {{cite book |title=A Biographical Sketch-Book of Early Hong Kong |last=Endacott |first=G. B. |author-link=George Beer Endacott |year=2005 |orig-year=1962 |publisher=[[Hong Kong University Press]] |location=Hong Kong |isbn=978-962-209-742-1 |pages= 36–44}}
* {{cite journal |last=Hurd |first=Douglas |author-link=Douglas Hurd |title=Sir John Bowring of Hong Kong, the Radical Governor |journal=History Today |year=1967 |volume=17 |issue=10 |pages=651–659 }}
* {{cite book|last=Jumsai|first=M L Manich|title=King Mongkut and Sir John Bowring|publisher=Chalermnit|date=1970|place=Great Britain}}
* {{cite book |last=Ringmar |first=Erik |title=Liberal Barbarism: The European Destruction of the Palace of the Emperor of China |url=https://www.academia.edu/attachments/41058464/download_file?st=MTQ4Mjg0OTA2MSw4MS44OC4xMC4yMzYsNDU3NTAw&s=profile |year=2013 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=New York |isbn=9781137268907 }}
*{{ODNB|first=Gerald |last=Stone |title=Bowring, Sir John (1792–1872) |orig-year=2004 |year=2009 |id=3087 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Todd |first=David |title=John Bowring and the global dissemination of free trade |journal=Historical Journal |volume=51 |issue=2 |year=2008 |pages=373–97 |doi=10.1017/s0018246x08006754|s2cid=153892975 }}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Youings |editor-first=Joyce Alice |title=Sir John Bowring, 1792–1872: aspects of his life and career |place=Plymouth |publisher=Devonshire Association |year=1993 }}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Wikisource|John Bowring|works=both}}
{{Commons category}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=24984| name=John Bowring}}
* {{Librivox author |id=11120}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=John Bowring}}
* [https://archive.org/details/autobiographica00bowrgoog Autobiographical Recollections of Sir John Bowring (1877)] at Internet Archive
* [http://uudb.org/articles/sirjohnbowring.html Sir John Bowring Biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150216021741/http://uudb.org/articles/sirjohnbowring.html |date=16 February 2015 }} Dictionary of Unitarian & Universalist Biography
* [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp00516 8 portraits of John Bowring] National Portrait Gallery
* {{Hansard-contribs | mr-john-bowring | John Bowring }}
* {{LCAuth|n50042871|John Bowring|49|ue}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-par|uk}}
{{Succession box
  | title  = Member of Parliament for [[Kilmarnock Burghs (UK Parliament constituency)|Kilmarnock Burghs]]
  | years  = [[1835 United Kingdom general election|1835]]–[[1837 United Kingdom general election|1837]]
  | before = [[John Dunlop (Scottish politician)|John Dunlop]]
  | after  = [[John Campbell Colquhoun]]
}}
{{Succession box
  | title  = Member of Parliament for [[Bolton (UK Parliament constituency)|Bolton]]
  | with   = [[Peter Ainsworth (Whig politician)|Peter Ainsworth]], to 1847
  | with2  = [[William Bolling (MP)|William Bolling]], 1847–1848
  | with3  = [[Stephen Blair]], from 1848
  | years  = [[1841 United Kingdom general election|1841]]–1849
  | before = [[Peter Ainsworth (Whig politician)|Peter Ainsworth]] and<br />[[William Bolling (MP)|William Bolling]]
  | after  = [[Stephen Blair]] and<br />Sir [[Joshua Walmsley]]
}}
{{S-gov}}
{{Succession box|
  title = [[Governor of Hong Kong]]|
  before =[[George Bonham|Sir George Bonham]]|
  after = [[William Caine (Hong Kong)|William Caine]] (Administrator)|
  years = 1854–1859
}}
{{S-end}}
{{Portal bar|Thailand<!-- Related to Siam by singing Bowring Treaty. -->|Hong Kong<!-- Related to Hong Kong—he is a British governor. -->|Politics}}
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