John Charles Bowring

John Charles Bowring
Born24 March 1821
Died20 June 1893
Occupationbusinessman
Parents
RelativesLewin Bentham Bowring (brother)
Edgar Alfred Bowring (brother)
Charles Calvert Bowring (son)
Humphrey Bowring (son)

John Charles Bowring (24 March 1821[1] – 20 June 1893)[2] was a Hong Kong businessman, a partner in the firm Jardine, Matheson & Co., and a keen amateur naturalist and JP for the County of Devon.

He was the eldest son of Sir John Bowring (1792–1872), of Exeter, Devon, Governor of Hong Kong, and accompanied him on some of his travels. He was brother of Lewin Bentham Bowring and Edgar Alfred Bowring.

Bowring was a passionate botanist and entomologist (more specifically a coleopterist; a student in the study of beetles). Throughout his travels with his father, Sir John Bowring, he studied, took notes, and collected certain rare plants and beetles whenever the opportunity presented itself. In 1852 Bowring brought from Hong Kong ferns, mosses, and flowering plants back to England.[3]

Upon his widow's death in 1912 she bequeathed funds for the building of a cottage hospital in Haygate Road, Shropshire, in his memory.[4] His sons included:

He left a large collection of coleoptera to the British Museum.

Two species of lizards, Hemidactylus bowringii and Subdoluseps bowringii, are named in honor of John Charles Bowring or his father Sir John Bowring.[5]

  1. ^ England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975
  2. ^ England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995
  3. ^ A Biographical Index of British and Irish Botanists Compiled by James Britten; James Britten; West Newman & Company; London; 1899; Third Supplement: p. 2
  4. ^ Wellington: Public services (1985). A History of the County of Shropshire: Volume 11: Telford. Victoria County History. pp. 236–38. Retrieved 23 May 2007.
  5. ^ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Bowring", p. 36).