John Ellis Symonds Gowing (1835 – 2 October 1908) was an English-born Australian retailer and draper, who founded the

eponymous An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

men's

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

Gowings Gowings was a department store chain in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, established in 1868. Set on several floors, it specialized in men's casual clothing, camping gear and novelty items. It had a men's barber and a dining restaurant. C ...

, originally the company specialized in ladies gloves and silk umbrellas.

Early years and career

Gowing was born at Cranley Hall,

Eye, Suffolk Eye () is a market town and civil parish in the north of the English county of Suffolk, about south of Diss, Norfolk, Diss, north of Ipswich and south-west of Norwich. The population in the 2011 Census of 2,154 was estimated to be 2,361 in 2 ...

, England, and was the eldest son of 10 children of Ellis Symonds Gowing, a farmer, and his wife Charlotte Lancaster. At 24 years of age, Gowing

emigrated Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

to Sydney with £400, on the American ship, the ''Commonwealth''. A year later his parents and siblings followed him to Australia. On arrival in Sydney, Gowing worked on the harbour in a

maritime Maritime may refer to: Geography * Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps * Maritime Region, a region in Togo * Maritime Southeast Asia * The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prin ...

warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities ...

. Soon after, he commenced working in retail with David Jones. He rose to be in charge of the

mercery Mercery (from French , meaning "habderdashery" (goods) or "haberdashery" (a shop trading in textiles and notions) initially referred to silk, linen and fustian textiles among various other piece goods imported to England in the 12th centur ...

department and lived above the store, as was common in the era. Gowing opened a

drapery Drapery is a general word referring to cloths or textiles (Old French , from Late Latin ). It may refer to cloth used for decorative purposes – such as around windows – or to the trade of retailing cloth, originally mostly for clothin ...

business on Crown Street, East Sydney in 1863. Five years later he and his younger brother, Preston Robert Gowing (1839–1900), opened the Mercery and Glove Depot in

George Street, Sydney George Street is a street in the central business district of Sydney. It was Sydney's original high street, and remains one of the busiest streets in the city centre. It connects a number of the city's most important buildings and precincts. ...

. John Gowing managed the store for £200 per annum and a half share of the profits. The business prospered and in 1864 a mercery warehouse, Edinburgh House, was opened. In 1878 his brother left employment as manager of another outfitters and joined Gowings. In time, ladies' gloves and silk umbrellas became less important and Gowings became known as a high-class, gentleman's outfitter. Preston Gowing predeceased his brother and in 1907 John Gowing transferred the business to his nephew and elder sons. John Gowing's son,

Preston Lanchester Gowing Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

, became chairman and ushered in a new era for the department store.

Death

In 1908, Gowing died at his home, Lyndhurst, Middleton Street, Stanmore. He was survived by his wife, Elizabeth, who had been a

milliner Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter. Historically, milliners, typically women shopkeepers, produced or imported an inventory of ...

in her native

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

, and eight children. His funeral service was held at All Saints' Anglican Church, Petersham before

masonic Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

burial at Rookwood. Gowing was a prominent mason and a founder of the Royal Arch Masonic Lodge, Petersham.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gowing, John 1835 births 1908 deaths Australian businesspeople in retailing English emigrants to Australia People from Eye, Suffolk Burials at Rookwood Cemetery Australian Freemasons 19th-century Australian businesspeople