Sir Eric Vansittart Bowater,

FRSA The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

(16 January 1895 – 30 August 1962), was an English businessman, who took the family firm

Bowater Bowater Inc. was a paper and pulp business headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina. It merged with Abitibi-Consolidated in 2007, and the combined company went on to become Resolute Forest Products. History The North American assets of Bow ...

from a paper merchant to the world's largest paper products company in his 40 years as its CEO and chairman.

Early life

The son of Sir Frederick W. Bowater,

KBE KBE may refer to: * Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, post-nominal letters * Knowledge-based engineering Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) is the application of knowledge-based systems technology to the domain o ...

, and Dame Alice Bowater, he served with the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

from 1913. Badly wounded at the

Battle of Passchendaele The Third Battle of Ypres (; ; ), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele ( ), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by the Allies of World War I, Allies against the German Empire. The battle took place on the Western Front (World Wa ...

in 1917, and decorated

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, he was subsequently pensioned off from the

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Career

After a period of convalescence, he joined the family business of W.V. Bowater and Sons in 1919, taking charge of

project management Project management is the process of supervising the work of a Project team, team to achieve all project goals within the given constraints. This information is usually described in project initiation documentation, project documentation, crea ...

for construction of the company's first

paper mill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt ...

Northfleet Northfleet is a town in the borough of Gravesham in Kent, England. It is located immediately west of Gravesend, and on the border with the Borough of Dartford. Northfleet has its own railway station on the North Kent Line, just east of Ebbsf ...

on the south side of the

Thames estuary The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain. Limits An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salinit ...

near

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Roche ...

, Kent. After ensuring that the mill reached full production in 1925, he joined the company board and became Chief Executive in 1927. Expanding the firm quickly, he sold part of the business to

Lord Rothermere Viscount Rothermere, of Hemsted in the county of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1919 for the press lord Harold Harmsworth, 1st Baron Harmsworth. He had already been created a baronet, of Horsey in ...

, using the funds to double production at Northfleet. He then reached agreement with both Lord Rothermere and

Lord Beaverbrook William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook (25 May 1879 – 9 June 1964), was a Canadian-British newspaper publisher and backstage politician who was an influential figure in British media and politics of the first half of the 20th century ...

to invest directly in the build of a new paper mill at

Ellesmere Port Ellesmere Port ( ) is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire, England. Ellesmere Port is on the south-eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula, north of Chester, on the bank of the Manchester Ship Canal. In the 2021 Unite ...

on the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is a major river in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it h ...

close to

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, with the mill's profits ensured through long-term supply agreements with his investors. However, the 1930s recession brought about a need by the investors for cash injections into their own business, resulting by the early 1930s in the company again being wholly family owned. Bowater then oversaw an international expansion of the business, with offices and mills in Canada, the United States and Australia. Seconded to the

Ministry of Aircraft Production Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian mi ...

by his friend Lord Beaverbrook, he was made a Director-General and placed in charge of the salvage of all downed aircraft. Bowater was subsequently knighted in 1944 for his services to the war effort. Returning to the family business in 1945, he oversaw its development into six lines of business. The firm grew into the world's leading supplier of paper products, with total assets of £194,891,000 and annual sales of 2,422,000 long tons of paper, pulp and other products valued at £150,818,000. A period of international expansion began in 1953, which included investments in North America in the mid-late 1950s and the acquisition of manufacturers in continental Europe in 1959-60. Company assets at the time of Bowater's death in 1962 totalled close to £200 million. He was a Fellow of the

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Personal life

He married Blanche Murre de Ville, with whom he had one daughter. After their divorce, he married, secondly, to Margaret Vivian Perkins, on 23 June 1937. They remained married until his death in 1962, and with whom he had a daughter and a son. His main home was Dene Place in

West Horsley West Horsley is a semi-rural village between Guildford and Leatherhead in Surrey, England. It lies on the A246 road, A246, and south of the M25 motorway, M25 and the A3 road, A3. Its civil parishes in England, civil parish ascends to an ancient ...

, Surrey (now converted into a Bupa

nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of older people, senior citizens, or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as care homes, skilled nursing facilities (SNF), or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms ...

), which on top of its extensive ornamental gardens, then housed a

dairy farm Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for the long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for the eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a h ...

based around a herd of pedigree

Guernsey cattle The Guernsey is a breed of dairy cattle from the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. It is fawn or red and white in colour, and is hardy and docile. Its milk is rich in flavour, high in fat and protein, and has a golden-yellow tinge due ...

. He also owned extensive lands in

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

, Canada, including: a house in

Corner Brook Corner Brook ( 2021 population: 19,316 CA 29,762) is a city located on the west coast of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Corner Brook is the fifth largest settlement in Newfoundland and Labrado ...

; a fishing lodge on the Serpentine River; and a farm on the banks of the Humber River, where he raised

Ayrshire cattle The Ayrshire ( IPA ) is a Scottish breed of dairy cattle. It originates in, and is named for, the county of Ayrshire in south-western Scotland. Ayrshires typically have red and white markings; the red can range from a shade of orange to a dark ...

. He also had homes in Riceville,

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, and in Australia. He died at his home in Surrey on 30 August 1962.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowater, Eric Businesspeople from Surrey People educated at Charterhouse School Royal Field Artillery officers British Army personnel of World War I Battle of Passchendaele Businesspeople awarded knighthoods Officers of the Legion of Honour English industrialists Knights Bachelor 1895 births 1962 deaths 20th-century English businesspeople Civil servants in the Ministry of Aircraft Production