Life

Bowman was a native of Scotland, and owned an estate at Logie

Logie, Dundee

Logie is a residential area of the City of Dundee, Scotland. It is located north of Blackness Road, bounded by Blackness Road, Balgay Road, Scott Street and Glenagnes Road...

 in Fife

Fife

Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...

shire. He had been travelling tutor to the eldest son of Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford

Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford

Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford KG, PC, PC was a British courtier and politician.He was born in Chelsea, London the son of Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Lord Conway and Charlotte Shorter and died in Surrey, England...

, and was rewarded with the place of comptroller of the Port of Bristol

Port of Bristol

The Port of Bristol comprises the commercial, and former commercial, docks situated in and near the city of Bristol in England. The Port of Bristol Authority was the commercial title of the Bristol City, Avonmouth, Portishead and Royal Portbury Docks when they were operated by Bristol City Council,...

. For many years he resided at East Molesey, Surrey

Surrey

Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

, but latterly on his property at Egham

Egham

Egham is a wealthy suburb in the Runnymede borough of Surrey, in the south-east of England. It is part of the London commuter belt and Greater London Urban Area, and about south-west of central London on the River Thames and near junction 13 of the M25 motorway.-Demographics:Egham town has a...

, in the same county.

A traveller and collector, he had some celebrity in his day as a virtuoso and man of science, which gained him admission in 1735 to the Society of Antiquaries

Society of Antiquaries of London

The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...

, and in 1742 to the Royal Society

Royal Society

The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...

.

Bowman had withdrawn from both societies several years before his death, in February 1782. In his will (proved 16 March of that year) he left whimsical directions regarding the arrangement and preservation of his library at Logie.

Works

To the Society of Antiquaries he contributed several papers, chiefly on classical antiquities, three of which were printed in vol. i. of Archæologia, pp. 100, 109, 112. His only published communication to the Royal Society was an eccentric letter addressed to Dr. Stephen Hales

Stephen Hales

Stephen Hales, FRS was an English physiologist, chemist and inventor.Hales studied the role of air and water in the maintenance of both plant and animal life. He gave accurate accounts of the movements of water in plants, and demonstrated that plants absorb air...

, on an earthquake

Earthquake

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...

 felt at East Molesey 14 March 1749-50, which appeared in the Philosophical Transactions

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society

The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society is a scientific journal published by the Royal Society of London. It was established in 1665, making it the first journal in the world exclusively devoted to science, and it has remained in continuous publication ever since, making it the world's...

, xlvi. 684.