SIR

See also:

• JOHN
• JOHN (1167–1216)
• JOHN (1290-c. 1320)
• JOHN (1296-1346)
• JOHN (1371–1419)
• JOHN (1468-1532)
• JOHN (1801-1873)
• JOHN (Heb. llni')
• JOHN (ZAPOLYA) (1487-1540)
• JOHN, 4TH MARQUESS OF TWEEDDALE (c. 1695-1762)
• JOHN, DON (1545-1578)
• JOHN, DON (1629–1679)
• JOHN, GOSPEL OF ST
• JOHN, THE APOSTLE
• JOHN, THE EPISTLES OF
• JOHN, or HAYS (1513–1571)

JOHN

See also:

• SIR JOHN BOWRING (1792-1872)

BOWRING (1792-1872)  , English linguist, political economist and miscellaneous writer, was born at Exeter, on the 17th of October 1792, of an old Puritan family . In early life he came under the influence of Jeremy Bentham . He did not, however, share his master's contempt for belles-lettres, but was a diligent student of literature and foreign languages, especially those of eastern Europe . As a linguist he ranked with Mezzofanti and von Gabelentz among the greatest of the world . The first-fruits of his study of foreign literature appeared in Specimens of the Russian Poets (1821-1823) . These were speedily followed by Batavian Anthology (1824), Ancient Poetry and Romances of Spain (1824), Specimens of the Polish Poets, and Servian Popular Poetry, both in 1827 . During this period he began to contribute to the newly founded Westminster Review, of which he was appointed editor in 1825 . By his contributions to the Review he obtained considerable reputation as political economist and parliamentary reformer . He advocated in its pages the cause of free trade long before it was popularized by Richard Cobden and John Bright . He pleaded earnestly in behalf of parliamentary reform, Catholic emancipation and popular education . In 1828 he visited Holland, where the university of Groningen conferred on him the degree of doctor of laws . In the following year he was in Denmark, preparing for the publication of a collection of Scandinavian poetry .

Bowring, who had been the trusted friend of Bentham 'during his life, was appointed his literary executor, and was charged with the task of preparing a collected edition of his works . This appeared in eleven volumes in 1843 . Meanwhile Bowring had entered parliament in 1835 as member for Kilmarnock; and in the following year he was appointed head of a government commission to be sent to France to inquire into the actual state of commerce between the two countries . He was engaged in similar investigations in Switzerland, Italy, Syria and some of the German states . The results of these missions appeared in a series of reports laid before the House of Commons . After a retirement of four years he sat in parliament from 1841 till 1849 as member for Bolton . During this busy period he found leisure for literature, and published in 1843 a translation of the Manuscript of the Queen's Court, a collection of old Bohemian lyrics, &c . In 1849 he was appointed British consul at Canton, and superintendent of trade in China, a post which he held for four years . After his return he distinguished himself as an advocate of the decimal system, and published a work entitled The Decimal System in Numbers, Coins and Accounts (1854) . The introduction of the florin as a preparatory step was chiefly due to his efforts . Knighted in 1854, he was again sent the same year to Hong-Kong as governor, invested with the supreme, military and naval power . It was during his governorship that a dispute broke out with the Chinese; and the irritation caused by his " spirited " or high-handed policy led to the second war with China .

In 1855 he visited

Siam, and negotiated with the king a treaty of commerce . After the usual five years of service he retired and received a pension . His last employment by the English government was as a commissioner to Italy in 1861, to report on British commercial relations with the new kingdom . Sir John Bowring subsequently accepted the appointment of minister plenipotentiary and envoy extra-ordinary from the Hawaiian government to the courts of Europe, and in this capacity negotiated treaties with Belgium, Holland, Italy, Spain and Switzerland . In addition to the works already named he published—Poetry of the Magyars (1830); Cheskian Anthology (1832); The Kingdom and People of Siam (1857); a translation of Peter Schlemihl (1824); translations from the Hungarian poet, Alexander Petofi (1866) ; and various pamphlets . He was elected F.R.S. and F.R.G.S., and received the decorations of several foreign orders of knighthood . He died at Claremont, near Exeter, on the 23rd of November 1872 . His valuable collection of coleoptera was presented to the British Museum by his second son, Lewin Bowring, a well-known Anglo-Indian administrator; and his third son, E . A . Bowring, member ofparliament for Exeter from 1868 to 1874, became known in the literary world as an able translator . Sir John Bowring's Recollections were edited by Lewin Bowring (d . 1910) in 1877 .