A John Bowring 'Trail' in Exeter - Part 3

 

James and I finished off our conversation in George's Meeting House - the building where the Unitarian Bowring family worshipped - and then left for other Exeter places associated with Hong Kong's fourth Governor.

Brian: What happened to Bowring after his time as Governor ended in 1859?

James: It wasn't long before he came back to Exeter. He was 67 years old, not in the best of health and things hadn't exactly been going well for him either. His actions over The Arrow were controversial back home and he came in for a huge amount of criticism. In fact, Prime Minister Palmerston's attempt to defend him led to the downfall of the Government, although Palmerston won the subsequent election.

James: Another nice paradox: the election that's often regarded as the height of nineteenth century jingoistic feeling was sparked by a champion of international peace! 

Brian: Interesting that when he got back to Exeter he wasn't content with a quiet life after all the turmoil in the East. He tried to get himself elected as a Whig M.P. for the city and started a Free Discussion Society to popularise radical reforms like universal state education. Both he and his son John Charles were magistrates and sometimes sat together at the court at Exeter Castle 

 

James: He was still going on missions to the Continent for the Government in the 1860s.

 

Brian: And I know he got involved with the Devon and Exeter Institution, where you used to work. 

 

 

Brian: Tell us about the Institution.

James: It was founded in 1813 in order to provide broad-based cultural improvement for Exeter and Devon, and to study regional history. Bowring was President for a year – the maximum time allowed then – in 1860. In 1863 he was a committee member – and he made some controversial suggestions for modernising the Institution which his fellow members rejected. Here's one of the pages from the minutes of that meeting:

 

 

James: He's still remembered here - today it's a proud connection!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1873 statue of John Bowring by Exeter's best-known sculptor E. B. Stephens - originally in George's Meeting House

 

James: The Institution has a good collection of books by and about him.

 

 

Brian: Could you show us some?

Brian: Yes, please take us to Claremont.

 

 

 

Brian: So this is Bowring's final home?

 

 

James: Yes, we're still in St. Leonard's, about half a mile away across fields from his son's residence and just a little further from his own birthplace.

Brian: He obviously liked St. Leonard's. But it was a different place from his youth. Piped water and gas came in the 1830s and before that the Baring Estate had been sold off and was being re-developed as middle class homes, often for retired military men or Indian civil servants.

James: I wonder if he felt he fitted in!

Brian: Can you tell us about what he did here during his last years.

James: He got married again in 1860 to Deborah Castle - much to the disgust of his family, as she was over twenty years younger and Maria had only been dead a couple of years. Just one of the Bowring clan attended the ceremony! She encouraged him to take up Unitarian causes again - he'd not been so active while in the East -  and he wrote a pamphlet attacking the idea of the Trinity. The Government sent him on a mission to Italy, but the death of the great national leader Cavour foiled his attempt to negotiate yet another trade treaty. Back home he was active in local causes: as well as his work for the Devon and Exeter Institution, he was the first president of the Devonshire Association. He was an enthusiastic member of learned societies and often addressed their meetings. When he was almost 80 he gave a talk to 3,000 people at Plymouth to a Temperance meeting - that was yet another of his causes. He was so full of energy and conviction that he made the platform shake.

Brian: I mentioned earlier that King Mongkut made him Siam's Ambassador in Europe during his retirement. He was also appointed an envoy and plenipotentiary for Hawaii and helped negotiate trade treaties between Hawaii and Belgium, Switzerland, Netherlands, Italy and Spain.  So this house was a centre of international diplomacy, with Bowring still keeping up his campaign for international free trade.

James: Perhaps retirement isn't the word! Bowring died here on November 23, 1872. After a service at George's Meeting House he was buried in the New Cemetery, also in St Leonard's

Brian: I like the way that one of the most travelled men of his time began and ended his life in the same small West Country parish. Shall we go to the Cemetery?

 

Dissenters' Chapel, New Cemetery, Exeter

 

James: The Cemetery's divided into two parts – one for Anglicans, the other for Dissenters. Bowring is of course buried in the Dissenters' part, close to the chapel.

 

Brian: I'm struck by the modesty of the tomb. After all, whatever you think of his career, he must be one of the most eminent residents of this graveyard, but he's not exactly drawing attention to himself. He's buried with Deborah, who died in 1902 after an active widowhood - amongst other things she became an early suffragette.

James: It's got words from one of his hymns on it – 'God is wisdom, God is love.'

 

 

Brian: How would you sum up Bowring's life?

James: I think he actually achieved an amazing amount. Of course some things went wrong, really wrong, like his role in starting the Second Opium War. And I think he probably died disappointed that his huge talents were not expressed in some worthy achievement – like making China part of an international system of free trade. But look at what his work did lead to in the long term: decimal coinage, a reasonably fair justice system in Hong Kong, proper training for British diplomatic staff in China, numerous books, pamphlets and papers, trade treaties all over the world, hymns still sung today....It's a long list.

Brian: Not bad for a man content with such a modest resting place. We've touched on so many things he did – and had to ignore so many more – that I think even his many enemies would have to admit he was a man of extraordinary energy and variety of talent. 

James: He never gave up campaigning for a better world. One of his last toasts was 'Liberty for all, equality for all, the right and duty of private judgement.'

 

 

 

Acknowledgements:

James and I have learnt about Bowring from many sources, printed and online - although all errors are of course our own. We would like to particularly mention:

 

Bartle, George: An Old Radical and His Brood, 1994, Janus.

Bowring, John. Autobiographical Recollections of Sir John Bowring, with a brief memoir by Lewin B. Bowring 1877, Henry S. King and Co. (https://archive.org/details/autobiographica00bowrgoog)

e)

Bowring, Philip: Liberalism, Free Trade and Empire: Three Diverse Roles of John Bowring in Asia, 2014, South East Asia Research Centre of the City University of Hong Kong.

Bowring, Philip: Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B414ImH-zxc

Brockett, Alan: .Nonconformity in Exeter 1650-1875, 1962, Manchester University Press.

Dymond, Robert: History of the Suburban Parish of St. Leonard, Exeter, 1873, James Townsend.

Lovell, Julia: The Opium War, 2011, Picador (mainly about the first Opium War but with an excellent analysis of the global economic background to the second conflict.)

Youings, Joyce (ed.): John Bowring 1792-1872, Aspects of His Life and Career, 1993, Devonshire Association.

 

The well-researched series 'Exeter Memories' has a number of relevant sections, e.g.:

 

http://www.exetermemories.co.uk/em/_churches/georges.php

http://www.exetermemories.co.uk/em/stleonards.php

http://www.exetermemories.co.uk/em/_people/bowring.php

 

A descendant of Bowring's second wife, Deborah Castle, has written some valuable posts about her and about aspects of Sir John's career, e.g.:

 

http://talltalesfromthetrees.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/sir-john-bowring-17…

http://talltalesfromthetrees.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/deborah-castle-1816…

 

Thanks

 

We would like to thank the Devon and Exeter Institution for allowing us to photograph inside their building and to make use of their collection of Bowring-related books.

 

http://www.devonandexeterinstitution.org/

 

We would like to thank the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, for for allowing us to see holdings related to Bowring not on public display. We intend to view more items in September and write up the results on Gwulo after that.

 

http://www.rammuseum.org.uk/

 

We would like to thank Philip Bowring for sending James an advance copy of his book Free Trade's First Missionary: Sir John Bowring In Europe And Asia (Hong Kong University Press, forthcoming).  It arrived too late for us to make use of it, but it looks like it will be a definitive study.