George Bowen

The Right Honourable Sir George Bowen GCMG PC
1st Governor of Queensland
In office 10 December 1859 – 4 January 1868
Monarch	Victoria
Preceded by	Office Established
Succeeded by	Samuel Blackall
5th Governor of New Zealand
In office 5 February 1868 – 19 March 1873
Monarch	Victoria
Premier	Edward Stafford William Fox George Waterhouse
Preceded by	Sir George Grey
Succeeded by	Sir James Fergusson
5th Governor of Victoria
In office 30 July 1873 – 22 February 1879
Monarch	Victoria
Preceded by	Sir John Manners-Sutton
Succeeded by	The 2nd Marquess of Normanby
13th Governor of Mauritius
In office 1879–1883
Monarch	Victoria
9th Governor of Hong Kong
In office 30 March 1883 – 6 October 1887
Monarch	Victoria
Lieutenant Governor	LTG John Sargent LTG Sir William Cameron
Colonial Secretary	William Henry Marsh Frederick Stewart
Preceded by	Sir John Pope Hennessy
Succeeded by	Sir George William Des Vœux
Personal details
Born	(1821-11-02)2 November 1821 Parish of Taughboyne, County Donegal, Ulster, Ireland
Died	21 February 1899(1899-02-21) (aged 77) Brighton, England
Resting place	Kensal Green Cemetery
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	Diamantina di Roma ​ ​ (m. 1856; died 1893)​ Letitia Florence White ​ ​ (m. 1896)​
Alma mater	Brasenose College, Oxford
Profession	colonial administrator
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	寶雲
Simplified Chinese	宝云
showTranscriptions Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Bóu wàhn Jyutping Bou2 wan4

Sir George Ferguson Bowen GCMG PC (Chinese: 寶雲; 2 November 1821 – 21 February 1899), was an Irish author and colonial administrator whose appointments included postings to the Ionian Islands, Queensland, New Zealand, Victoria, Mauritius and Hong Kong.^[1]

Early life[]

Bowen was born the eldest son of the Rev. Edward Bowen,^[2] Church of Ireland Rector of Taughboyne, a parish in the Laggan district in the east of County Donegal in Ulster.^[1] Bowen was educated at Charterhouse School and Trinity College, Oxford. Bowen, twice President of the Oxford Union, was awarded a first class Bachelor of Arts degree in classics in 1844,^[2] and was elected a fellow of Brasenose College. Bowen was called to the bar by Lincoln's Inn in 1844 and obtained his Master of Arts three years later.^[3] In 1846 Bowen had some naval training, serving for sixteen days on HMS Victory.^[1] In 1847 Bowen was appointed president of the Ionian University located in Corfu, a post he held until 1851.^[1][3]

Service in the Ionian Islands[]

Bowen became the chief secretary to the government of the Ionian Islands in 1854.^[2] While in that post, he married the Contessa Diamantina di Roma on 28 April 1856. Diamantina was the daughter of Conte Giorgio-Candiano Roma and his wife Contessa Orsola, née di Balsamo. The Roma family were local aristocracy; her father being the President of the Ionian Senate, titular head of the Islands, from 1850 to 1856. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1855 and was advanced to Knight Commander (KCMG) in the following year.^[3]

Governor of Queensland[]

In 1859, Bowen was appointed the first Governor of Queensland, a colony that had just been separated from New South Wales. Bowen's influence in Queensland was greater than that of the governors in other Australian colonies in a large part due to Robert Herbert, who accompanied Bowen from England, and later became colonial secretary and then first Premier of Queensland in 1860–66.^[1] Bowen was interested in the exploration of Queensland and in the establishment of a volunteer force, but incurred some unpopularity by refusing to sanction the issue of inconvertible paper money during the financial crisis of 1866. But overall, he was quite popular in Queensland, so that the citizens requested an extension of his five-year term as governor, resulting in his staying for further two years.^[4]

Governor of New Zealand[]

In 1867 Bowen was made Governor of New Zealand, where he was successful in reconciling the Māori reaction to the British rule and saw the end of the New Zealand Wars. Bowen also instituted the New Zealand Cross for colonial soldiers, one of the rarest bravery awards in the world and equivalent to the Victoria Cross (he was reprimanded for exceeding his authority).^[5]

In 1869, Albert Hastings Markham, first lieutenant of HMS Blanche submitted a design to Bowen for a national ensign for New Zealand. His proposal, incorporating the Southern Cross, was approved and remains in use to this day.^[6] In 1871, he visited Milford Sound aboard HMS Clio and Bowen Falls was named after his wife to mark the occasion.^[7]

Governor of Victoria[]

In March 1873, Bowen was transferred to the colony of Victoria as the Governor of Victoria,^[1] where he embarked on an endeavour to reduce the expenses of the colony. A political crisis occurred while Bowen took leave in England from January 1875 to January 1876, when the acting governor, Sir William Stawell, showed "too little flexibility in the exercise of his temporary powers".^[1] One of the main issues was the perennial conflict between the Victorian Legislative Council and the Victorian Legislative Assembly; the Council was blocking legislation for its reform and for payment of members.^[1] In January 1878, backed by advice from the Colonial Office, Bowen consented to premier Graham Berry's plan to break the deadlock by the wholesale dismissal of public servants on so-called "Black Wednesday".^[1] In May that year, Bowen said that "my reluctant consent, purely on constitutional grounds, to these dismissals ... has damaged my further reputation and my career to a degree that I shall never recover. It will never be forgotten either in England or in the Colony". However several others, including Hugh Childers and William Ewart Gladstone, approved of Bowen's actions, and he was appointed to subsequent vice-regal posts.^[1]

Governor of Mauritius[]

Bowen arrived on Mauritius on 4 April 1879 and served as 13th Governor of the colony until 9 December 1880.^[8]

Governor of Hong Kong[]

On 30 March 1883, Bowen was made Governor of Hong Kong. During his tenure, his administration established the Hong Kong Observatory, which also served as the meteorological institute of the territory. He founded the first college in Hong Kong, and ordered the construction of the Typhoon Shelter in Causeway Bay, and a government hospital. He retired in 1887, due to ill health.^[9]

Post-governorship[]

Bowen returned to England after his time in Hong Kong and was appointed chief of a Royal Commission sent to Malta in December 1887 to help to draft the new constitution for the island. All recommendations made by the commission were adopted. Afterwards, Bowen was sworn of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council.

Personal life[]

Bowen was married twice.

His first wife was Contessa Diamantina di Roma, only daughter of Count Candiano di Roma. They had the following children:

• first child, a son who died when twelve days old, born in the Ionian Islands
• Adelaide Diamantina (Nina) Bowen, born 17 August 1858 in the Ionian Islands
• Zoe Caroline Bowen, born 28 August 1860 at Adelaide House (the temporary Government House), Brisbane, Queensland
• Agnes Herbert Bowen, born 26 July 1862 at the first Government House in Brisbane
• George William Howard Bowen, born 9 April 1864 at the first Government House, in Brisbane
• Alfreda Ernestina Albertina Bowen, born 10 April 1869 at Old Government House, Auckland, New Zealand

Diamantina died in London in 1893 at about the age of 60.^[10]

George married his second wife, Letitia Florence White, in late 1896 at Chelsea, London.^[10] Florence was the daughter of Dr Thomas Luby, a mathematician, and was the widow of Henry White, whom she had married in 1878.^[10]

George Ferguson Bowen died on 21 February 1899 in Brighton in Sussex, aged 77 years old.^[10] He died from bronchitis after a short illness of two days. He was buried on 25 February 1899 in Kensal Green cemetery in London.

Legacy[]

The following were named after George Bowen:

• Bowen, a town in Queensland
• Bowen Hills, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
• Bowen Park, a pleasure garden in Bowen Hills
• Bowen Downs Station, a pastoral lease in outback Queensland
• Bowen Bridge and Bowen Bridge Road, a bridge and the road that crosses it, in Brisbane, Queensland
• Bowen Terrace (and Lower Bowen Terrace), a road in the Brisbane suburb of New Farm
• Bowen Road, , and Bowen Aqueduct in Hong Kong.
• Bowen Street (now part of the RMIT campus) in Melbourne
• Bowen Street in Wellington, New Zealand.

Queen Victoria issued the Letters Patent and the accompanying Order-in-Council that are Queensland's primary founding documents on 6 June 1859. The Letters Patent specifically appointed Sir George Ferguson Bowen as Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of Queensland, endowing him with the legal authority to oversee the installation of self-government by and for the citizens of the colony. This document was #1 in the 'Top 150: Documenting Queensland' exhibition when it toured to venues around Queensland from February 2009 to April 2010.^[11] The exhibition was part of Queensland State Archives' events and exhibition program which contributed to the state's Q150 celebrations, marking the 150th anniversary of the separation of Queensland from New South Wales.^[12]

His wife Diamantina appears to have been more popular than George in Queensland, as there are many Queensland places named after her.

Honours[]

• CMG, 1855
• KCMG, 1856
• GCMG, 1860
• Privy Counsellor, 1886
• Honorary DCL Degree, Oxford, 1875
• Honorary LLD Degree, Cambridge, 1886.^[13]

Literary works[]

• Ithaca in 1850, (London, 1851^[1] translated into Greek in 1859)
• Mount Athos, Thessaly and Epirus (London, 1852);
• Handbook for Travellers in Greece^[1] contributor (London, 1854).
• Thirty Years of Colonial Government (London, 1889, edited by S. Lane-Poole)

See also[]

• Diamantina Bowen, wife of George Bowen

References[]

Bibliography[]

References[]

• Dictionary of Australian Biography – Project Gutenberg
• The Arrival & Reception of His Excellency Sir G.F. Bowen, First Governor of Queensland, Moreton Bay Courier, Tuesday 13 December 1859, page 2
• Departure of Governor Sir G.F. Bowen^{[permanent dead link]}, The Brisbane Courier, Monday 6 January 1868, page 2
• Reception of Sir G.F. Bowen in New Zealand^{[permanent dead link]}, The Brisbane Courier, Tuesday 3 March 1868, page 3
• Farewell Ball to the Governor, Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 135, 20 March 1873, Page 2
• Death of Sir George Bowen, Brisbane Courier, Thursday 23 February 1899
• The Late Sir George Bowen, Brisbane Courier, Monday 27 February 1899
• Death of Sir George Bowen, Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9676, 23 February 1899, Page 2
• Dod, Robert Philip (1860). The Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage of Great Britain and Ireland. London: Whitaker and Co.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to George Bowen.

Wikisource has original works written by or about: George Bowen

• Handbook for travellers in Greece at GoogleBooks

Government offices
New office	Governor of Queensland 1859–1867	Succeeded by Sir Samuel Blackall
Preceded by Sir George Grey	Governor of New Zealand 1867–1872	Succeeded by Sir James Fergusson
Preceded by Sir John Manners-Sutton	Governor of Victoria 1873–1879	Succeeded by The Marquess of Normanby
Preceded by Sir Arthur Purves Phayre	Governor of Mauritius 1879–1880	Succeeded by Sir Frederick Napier Broome
Preceded by William H. Marsh (Administrator)	9th Governor of Hong Kong 1883–1885	Succeeded by William H. Marsh (Administrator)