Bowring is a surname of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

origin. At the time of the British Census of 1881, Retrieved 25 January 2014 its relative frequency was highest in

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

(36.5 times the British average), followed by

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

, Surrey, the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

and

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. The name Bowring may refer to: * Arthur Bowring (1873–1944), American rancher and politician, husband of Eva Bowring *

Benjamin Bowring Benjamin Bowring (baptised 17 May 1778 – 1 June 1846) was an English watchmaker, jeweller, and businessman. He was the founder, in 1811, of the Bowring trading, shipping and insurance businesses, later known as Bowring Brothers in Canada and th ...

(1778–1846), English-Newfoundland businessman *

Charles Calvert Bowring Sir Charles Calvert Bowring (20 November 1872 – 13 June 1945) was a British colonial administrator, mainly in Kenya, who was later Governor and Commander in Chief of the Nyasaland Protectorate from 1923 to 1929. Early life Bowring was born i ...

(1872–1945), British colonial administrator (East Africa), son of J. C. Bowring * Charles R. Bowring (1840–1890), Newfoundland politician and merchant, grandson of Benjamin Bowring and brother of Sir William Bowring. *

Edgar Alfred Bowring Edgar Alfred Bowring (; 26 May 1826 – August 1911) was a British translator, author and civil servant, serving as librarian and registrar to the Board of Trade (1848–1863), secretary to the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, and Lib ...

(1826–1911), British translator and author, son of John Bowring *

Edgar Rennie Bowring Sir Edgar Rennie Bowring (17 August 1858 – 23 June 1943) was a Newfoundland businessman and politician. He was born in St. John's, Newfoundland the grandson of Benjamin Bowring and cousin of Charles R. Bowring. Between 1918 and 1922 ...

(1858–1943), businessman and first high commissioner of Newfoundland, grandson of Benjamin Bowring and first cousin of Charles R. Bowring and William Bowring (1837–1918). * Eva Bowring (1892–1985), American politician, wife of Arthur Bowring. * Humphrey Bowring (1874–1952) – British admiral, son of J. C. Bowring *

John Bowring Sir John Bowring , or Phraya Siamanukulkij Siammitrmahayot, , , group=note (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 a ...

(1792–1872), an English political economist and writer. Governor of

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

from 1854 to 1859. First cousin once removed of Benjamin Bowring * J. C. Bowring (1820–1893), the eldest son of John Bowring. *

Kevin Bowring Kevin Bowring is a Welsh former rugby union player and coach. Bowring attended Neath Grammar School for Boys. A flanker, he played for London Welsh and captained the team. He also represented the Barbarians and Middlesex County . He progress ...

, former rugby union player and coach. *

Lewin Bentham Bowring Lewin Bentham Bowring (1824–1910) was a British Indian civil servant in British India who served as the Chief Commissioner of Mysore between 1862 and 1870. He was also an author and man of letters. Family He was the second son of Sir John Bowr ...

(1824–1910), son of John Bowring *

Richard Bowring Richard John Bowring (born 6 February 1947) is an English academic serving as Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Cambridge and an Honorary Fellow of Downing College. In 2013, Bowring was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun 3rd Cla ...

(b. 1947), Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Cambridge *

Walter Andrew Bowring Walter Andrew Bowring, CBE (30 November 1875 – 3 November 1950) was a British colonial administrator. He was Administrator of Dominica from 1931 to 1933. Life and career The fifth son of J. C. Bowring, Walter Andrew Bowring was educated at Et ...

(1875 - 1950), British colonial administrator * Sir William Bowring (1837–1918), Liverpool, England politician and merchant, grandson of Benjamin Bowring and brother of Charles R. Bowring. *

William Bowring (cricketer) William Bowring (14 November 1874 at St John's, Newfoundland, Canada – 12 August 1945 at Bay, St Michael, Barbados) was a West Indian cricketer who toured with the first West Indian touring side to England in 1900. He was educated at Sherborne ...

(1874–1945), son of Charles R. Bowring The name is an

occupational name In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name, ...

deriving from the pre-7th Century

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

''bur'' meaning "a

bower Bower may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Catherine, or The Bower'', an unfinished Jane Austen novel * A high-ranking card (usually a Jack) in certain card games: ** The Right and Left Bower (or Bauer), the two highest-ranking cards in the g ...

, a chamber", and ''ing'', in this context, "a friend" or "servant", one who looked after the "bower-chamber" in a lord or chief's house. Job-descriptive surnames originally denoted the actual occupation of the namebearer, and later became hereditary. There are many developed spellings, all with essentially the same meaning, although some are common as surnames and these include: Bower, Bur, Bowerman, Borman, Bowra, Boorer, Burra, Bowring and Bowering. The surname was first recorded in the early 14th Century (see below), and other early recordings include: Mayfflin atte Bur (1280, Somerset); Gilbert atte Boure (1296, Sussex); Robert Boreman (1327, Sussex; and Walter Bowryng (1328, Somerset). The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Henry Bouryng, which was dated 1302, in the "Pipe Rolls of Derbyshire", during the reign of King Edward I, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 – 1307.

References

See also