William Russell Bowker (1855 - 16 July 1916) was an early and prominent

South African __NOTOC__ South African may relate to: * The nation of South Africa * South African Airways * South African English * South African people * Languages of South Africa * Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the Afric ...

settler in

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Early life

William Russell Bowker was born in 1855 in

Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London, Eastern Cape, East London. Makhanda is the lar ...

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...

. He was the eleventh child of Bertram Egerton Bowker, who had migrated from

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England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

to South Africa with the

1820 Settlers The 1820 Settlers were several groups of British colonists from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, settled by the government of the United Kingdom and the Cape Colony authorities in the Eastern Cape of South Africa in 1820. Origins After th ...

.Old Africa: Stories from East Africa's Past, Issues 18-27, Kifaru Educational and Editorial Consultants, 2008 His uncles had fought in the 6th, 7th, and 8th Xhosa Wars, and his father raised and commanded Bowker’s Rovers during the 1877 Xhosa War, with whom William and his brother George served as Troopers, receiving the

South Africa Medal (1877) The South Africa Medal (1880), often referred to as the Zulu War Medal, is a campaign medal instituted in 1880 and awarded by the British Government to members of the British Army, Royal Naval Brigade and Colonial Volunteers who were involved ...

. Bowker served with distinction during the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

, serving as a Lieutenant in the Border Horse from February 17 - May 20, 1900, and then as a Captain in the Johannesburg Mounted Rifles. Old Africa: Stories from East Africa's Past, Issues 18-27, Kifaru Educational and Editorial Consultants, 2008 His brother George also served as a Lieutenant in the Border Horse in the war.

East Africa

Bowker first visited the

East Africa Protectorate East Africa Protectorate (also known as British East Africa) was an area in the African Great Lakes occupying roughly the same terrain as present-day Kenya from the Indian Ocean inland to the border with Uganda in the west. Controlled by Britai ...

in 1901 and became impressed by the farming and ranching opportunities in the new country. On his return to South Africa, motivated by Sir Charles Eliot's call for settlers, he sold his estates and recruited a group of aspiring farmers keen to settle in the Protectorate. In 1904 he returned to the Protectorate and impressed Eliot with his efforts to encourage settlement. He made an application for land, and was granted a lease for 30,000 acres in the Kedong valley.Old Africa: Stories from East Africa's Past, Issues 18-27, Kifaru Educational and Editorial Consultants, 2008 In 1907, together with

Ewart Grogan Ewart Scott Grogan (1874–1967) was an English explorer, politician, and entrepreneur. He was the first person in recorded history to walk the length of Africa, from Cape Town to Cairo. Biography Ewart Grogan was educated at Winchester College ...

and others, he was involved in an altercation with three

Kikuyu Kikuyu or Gikuyu (Gĩkũyũ) mostly refers to an ethnic group in Kenya or its associated language. It may also refer to: *Kikuyu people, a majority ethnic group in Kenya *Kikuyu language, the language of Kikuyu people *Kikuyu, Kenya, a town in Centr ...

men in

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

. The incident achieved notoriety at the time due to the heavy handedness of Bowker and his accomplices. Despite his protestations of innocence, the government was keen to set an example and arrested him for illegal assembly, later sentencing him to fourteen days imprisonment and a fine of 250 rupees. During 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 ...

he organised a group of irregulars and raised a cavalry known as Bowker's Horse which became part of the East African Mounted Rifles. He died from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

whilst on the field on 16 July 1916 and was buried at Mount Margaret in the Kedong valley.Old Africa: Stories from East Africa's Past, Issues 18-27, Kifaru Educational and Editorial Consultants, 2008

References

1855 births 1916 deaths British Kenya people Settlers of Kenya White Kenyan people Cape Colony people {{Kenya-bio-stub