1792–1872

Introduction

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National Portrait Gallery

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National Portrait Gallery

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Born: Oc­to­ber 17, 1792, Hea­vi­tree, Exe­ter, Dev­on, Eng­land.

Died: No­vem­ber 23, 1872, Exe­ter, Dev­on Eng­land.

Buried: Higher Ce­me­te­ry, Exe­ter, Dev­on, Eng­land. On his tomb­stone were the words from his hymn: In the Cross of Christ I Glo­ry.

Biography

Bowring was the hus­band of Deb­or­ah Cas­tle.

An ac­comp­lished lin­guist, he mas­tered five lang­uages by age 16 with­out a teacher. It has been said he was ev­en­tu­al­ly flu­ent in over 20 lang­uag­es and could speak 80 more; he was known for his trans­la­tions of Dutch po­et­ry. At age 33, he became ed­it­or of the West­min­ster Review.

Bowring was also one of the pre­emi­nent Brit­ish states­men of his day: Com­mis­sion­er to France, Con­sul at Can­ton (Guang­zhou), Min­is­ter Ple­ni­po­ten­ti­ary to Chi­na, Gov­er­nor of Hong Kong, and twice a mem­ber of Par­lia­ment. Queen Vic­tor­ia knight­ed him in 1854.

Works

Sources

Lyrics