Robert Benson Bowman (

Richmond, Yorkshire Richmond is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, and the administrative centre of the district of Richmondshire. Historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire, it is from the county town of Northallerton and situated on t ...

, 14 May 1808 - 24 November 1882,

Newcastle-upon-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is als ...

) was a Newcastle bookseller and entrepreneur. As well as publishing a range of popular books, Bowman was a business partner of the ironmaster

Lowthian Bell Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell, 1st Baronet, FRS (18 February 1816 – 20 December 1904) was a Victorian ironmaster and Liberal Party politician from Washington, County Durham, in the north of England. He was described as being "as famous in his day ...

and an amateur

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

Biography

Bowman was the youngest of seven children of Thomas Bowman of the small

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

town of

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

. Thomas was a printer and bookseller, having tried his hand at different ways of earning money including selling patent medicines and perfumes, and working at various times as a clerk to the Commissioners of Taxes and as a magistrates' clerk.Hendra, 2005. Bowman was educated at Richmond School under the famous headmaster James Tate. In his teens Bowman helped to form the Richmond Botanical Society. He was a keen amateur botanist all his life, and a long time member of the Natural History Society of Northumberland. He corresponded with and became a friend of the famous Scottish

William Jackson Hooker Sir William Jackson Hooker (6 July 178512 August 1865) was an English botanist and botanical illustrator, who became the first director of Kew when in 1841 it was recommended to be placed under state ownership as a botanic garden. At Kew he ...

(''British Flora''), and with other botanists including

Hewett Cottrell Watson Hewett Cottrell Watson (9 May 1804 – 27 July 1881) was a phrenologist, botanist and evolutionary theorist. He was born in Firbeck, near Rotherham, Yorkshire, and died at Thames Ditton, Surrey. Biography Watson was the eldest son of Holland W ...

(''Topographical Botany''), to whom he sent plant specimens and scientific observations which they used in their books. He similarly corresponded and sent specimens to the

marine biologist Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many scientific classification, phyla, family (biology), families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others th ...

George Johnston at

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recor ...

. In 1824, aged 16, he moved to Newcastle and began to work as a druggist at Robert Currie's shop at 19 Sandhill. In 1834, he set up in business as a bookseller, like his father, in partnership with Currie, buying the established bookshop at 32 Collingwood Street. They sold books on art, natural history, theology and general subjects, branching out into publishing, and also acting as a depot for the

Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) is a UK-based Christian charity. Founded in 1698 by Thomas Bray, it has worked for over 300 years to increase awareness of the Christian faith in the UK and across the world. The SPCK is th ...

. Bowman published a variety of books locally at 12 Nuns' Lane, Newcastle, including the Victorian chapbook "Life of

Jack Sheppard Jack Sheppard (4 March 1702 – 16 November 1724), or "Honest Jack", was a notorious English thief and prison escapee of early 18th-century London. Born into a poor family, he was apprenticed as a carpenter but took to theft and burglary in ...

, the Notorious House and Gaol Breaker", twenty-three "Penny Histories" and nineteen "Penny Song Books". Bowman married Ellen Pattinson, daughter of the

industrial chemist The chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, it converts raw materials (oil, natural gas, air, water, metals, and minerals) into more than 70,000 different products. The ...

Hugh Lee Pattinson Hugh Lee Pattinson FRS (25 December 1796 – 11 November 1858) was an English industrial chemist. He was also an entrepreneur, sharing the risk of major industrial developments with famous ironmaster Isaac Lowthian Bell and cable manufacturer Ro ...

and Phoebe Walton. Her sisters married Bowman's business partner Isaac Lowthian Bell, and another of Bell's business partners,

Robert Stirling Newall Robert Stirling Newall FRS FRAS (27 May 1812 – 21 April 1889) was a Scottish engineer and astronomer. Life and work Born at Dundee on 27 May 1812, Newall began work in a local mercantile office before leaving for London, where, in the emplo ...

: all three brothers-in-law were members of Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club and the Natural History Society of Northumberland. Bowman, Pattinson and Bell set up in business in 1850 as "chemical manufacturers and co-partners in trade", founding the chemical works at

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, County Durham.Archaeo-Environment: Washington Chemical Works
Retrieved 28 November 2012. His body is buried in the Pattinson family vault in

, County Durham.

References

Bibliography

External links

Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland: collector Robert Benson Bowman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowman, Robert Benson 1808 births 1882 deaths English booksellers English book publishers (people) English botanists 19th-century English businesspeople