John Bowdler (1746–1823) was a campaigner for moral reform in Britain and a founder of the Church Building Society. His brother and sister were the editors of the expurgated ''Family Shakspeare''.
Early life
He was born at
Bath, Somerset on 18 March 1746, the son of Thomas Bowdler and
Elizabeth, ''née'' Cotton, second daughter and coheiress of Sir John Cotton, 6th Baronet. John Bowdler (known as the elder to distinguish him from his son John) was the eldest son of this marriage. His mother, who wrote 'Practical Observations on the Revelations of St. John' (Bath, 1800; written in 1775), was noted for piety and culture; and she gave all her children religious training. John Bowdler attended several private schools. His brother
Thomas Bowdler the elder and sister
Henrietta Maria Bowdler would become well known as the expurgators of Shakespeare.
In November 1765 Bowdler was placed in the office of Mr. Barsham, a
special pleader
A special pleader was a historical legal occupation. The practitioner, or "special pleader" in English law specialised in drafting "pleadings", in modern terminology statements of case.
History
Up to the 19th century, there were many rules, tech ...
; and he practised as a
chamber conveyancer
Chamber or the chamber may refer to:
In government and organizations
*Chamber of commerce, an organization of business owners to promote commercial interests
* Legislative chamber, in politics
*Debate chamber, the space or room that houses delibe ...
between 1770 and 1780.
In January 1778 he married Harrietta, eldest daughter of John Hanbury, vice-consul at Hamburg.
In November 1779 he attended Robert Gordon, the last of the
nonjuring bishops, through a fatal illness. Bowdler had attended Gordon's nonjuring services in London.
His father's death in 1785 put Bowdler in possession of a small fortune; he then retired from his profession.
Pamphleteer for reform
In 1795 Bowdler wrote a long letter to
Lord Auckland
Baron Auckland is a title in both the Peerage of Ireland and the Peerage of Great Britain. The first creation came in 1789 when the prominent politician and financial expert William Eden was made Baron Auckland in the Peerage of Ireland. In ...
about the high prices of the time, in which he attacked clergy and legislators for neglecting morality and religion. In 1796 he addressed letters on similar subjects to the
Archbishop of Canterbury and bishops
Beilby Porteus
Beilby Porteus (or Porteous; 8 May 1731 – 13 May 1809), successively Bishop of Chester and of London, was a Church of England reformer and a leading abolitionist in England. He was the first Anglican in a position of authority to seriously c ...
and
Samuel Horsley
Samuel Horsley (15 September 1733 – 4 October 1806) was a British churchman, bishop of Rochester from 1793. He was also well versed in physics and mathematics, on which he wrote a number of papers and thus was elected a Fellow of the Royal So ...
. He published in 1797 a pamphlet entitled ''Reform or Ruin'', in which he sought again to expose the immorality and irreligion of the nation. The pamphlet had a wide sale, and reached an eighth edition within a year.
He disapproved of
Sir Richard Hill's 'Apology for Brotherly Love,' a partial justification of the prevailing dissent, and issued pamphlets in support of the opposite views expounded in
Charles Daubeney's 'Guide to the Church.'
In 1815 he formed a committee to memorialise the government to erect additional churches in the populous parts of England out of public funds. In 1816 he petitioned
Lord Sidmouth
Viscount Sidmouth, of Sidmouth in the County of Devon, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 12 January 1805 for the former prime minister, Henry Addington. In May 1804, King George III intended to confer the titles ...
to abolish lotteries.
Death and legacy
He died at
Eltham
Eltham ( ) is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards of E ...
on 29 June 1823. Bowdler was one of the founders of the
Church Building Society
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* C ...
. In 1825 his son Thomas published a ''Memoir of the Late John Bowdler'' (which includes an account of Thomas Bowdler the elder).
Family
He had ten children, six of whom survived infancy.
John Bowdler the Younger and
Thomas Bowdler the Younger were his sons. His daughter Elizabeth died on 4 December 1810.
References
*
;Attribution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowdler, John
1746 births
1823 deaths
English male writers
People from Bath, Somerset