Sir John Cowan LLD DL (12 December 1844–7 February 1929) was a 19th/20th century Scottish iron and steel merchant.

Life

He was born on a ship going to

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

on 12 December 1844, the youngest of seven children and only son of Margaret Marshall (d.1886) and Rev John Cowan of the

United Presbyterian Church of Scotland The United Presbyterian Church (1847–1900) was a Scottish Presbyterian denomination. It was formed in 1847 by the union of the United Secession Church and the Relief Church, and in 1900 merged with the Free Church of Scotland to form the Unit ...

church in

. He spent his early life in Jamaica. He was educated at the Edinburgh Institution then studied at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. In 1860 he was apprenticed to the firm of Redpath Brown & Co, iron and steel merchants, of 33 Candlemaker Row and 137 Constitution Street in

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by '' Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

. At that time he lived with his maternal uncle, James Marshall (d.1873), at 15

Regent Terrace Regent Terrace is a residential street of 34 classical 3-bay townhouses built on the upper south side of Calton Hill in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. Regent Terrace is within the Edinburgh New and Old Town UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed ...

Calton Hill Calton Hill () is a hill in central Edinburgh, Scotland, situated beyond the east end of Princes Street and included in the city's UNESCO World Heritage Site. Views of, and from, the hill are often used in photographs and paintings of the ci ...

. By the 1870s Cowan lived in a flat at 28 Nelson Street in

Edinburgh's New Town The New Town is a central area of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It was built in stages between 1767 and around 1850, and retains much of its original neo-classical and Georgian period architecture. Its best known street is Princes Street ...

. From 1880 until death he was living at 6 Salisbury Road, a large Victorian villa in the

Grange Grange may refer to: Buildings * Grange House, Scotland, built in 1564, and demolished in 1906 * Grange Estate, Pennsylvania, built in 1682 * Monastic grange, a farming estate belonging to a monastery Geography Australia * Grange, South Austral ...

. From 1900 he was Treasurer and from 1901 to 1903 he was Master of the Merchants Hall in Edinburgh, replacing John Macmillan. In 1915 he was knighted by King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...

in his then role of Chairman of Redpath Brown. He died at home 6 Salisbury Road on 7 February 1929, and is buried in the

Grange Cemetery The Grange (originally St Giles' Grange) is an affluent suburb of Edinburgh, just south of the city centre, with Morningside and Greenhill to the west, Newington to the east, The Meadows park and Marchmont to the north, and Blackford Hil ...

in south Edinburgh. The grave lies in the southeast section. His parents lie immediately to the north.

Family

In 1872 he was married to Marion Dickson Wallace (1851–1932) in

Dunfermline Dunfermline (; sco, Dunfaurlin, gd, Dùn Phàrlain) is a city, parish and former Royal Burgh, in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city currently has an estimated population of 58,508. Accord ...

. They had at least 11 children, many dying in infancy. Their son, William Morrison Cowan (1895–1919) died as results of wounds received in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

while serving in the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

. Another son was Andrew Wallace Cowan

FRSA The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

(1877–1964). Their daughter

Agnes Marshall Cowan Agnes Marshall Cowan MRCOG (1880–1940) was a Scottish physician who was one of the first fully qualified female physicians in Britain, and a medical missionary in Manchuria during its plague. She oversaw medical issues in the "Devil's Porr ...

(1880–1940) was one of the first females to qualify as a physician at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 ...

. She served as a medical missionary in

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...

1913 to 1917 and as Medical Superintendent at the accident-prone "Devil's Porridge" explosive factory at Gretna 1917–18. In 1934 she became Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in

Mukden Medical College Mukden Medical College (also spelt Moukden Medical College) was a medical school in Mukden (now Shenyang), China, founded in 1892 as the Sheng Jing Medical School (this was primarily an 'apprentice' school teaching medical assistants). The Mukden ...

the first Scottish female to gain a professorship.

Artistic recognition

His portrait by Arthur Nowell is held in the Merchants Hall in central Edinburgh.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowan, John 1844 births 1929 deaths People born at sea Scottish merchants Alumni of the University of Edinburgh