Lewin Bentham Bowring (1824–1910) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

Indian civil servant in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

who served as the Chief Commissioner of Mysore between 1862 and 1870. He was also an author and man of letters.

Early life

Bowring was born in 1824. He was the second son of Sir John Bowring (1792-1872), of

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

, Devon,

Governor of Hong Kong The governor of Hong Kong was the representative of the United Kingdom, British The Crown, Crown in British Hong Kong, Hong Kong from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council of Hong Kong, Executiv ...

, and was a brother of John Charles Bowring and Edgar Alfred Bowring. He was educated at Mount Radford School.

Career

Bowring joined the

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

Civil Service in 1843. He became Assistant Resident at

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

in 1847, and later joined the

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

commission. From 1858 to 1862, he was private secretary to the Viceroy of India, Lord Canning. Bowring served as Chief Commissioner of

Mysore Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...

from 1862 to 1870. This was during the period between 1831 and 1881 when the Maharaja of Mysore had been dispossessed of his state by the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

and Mysore was being administered by the ''Mysore Commission''. The Bowring Institute in

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

, which was founded by Lewis Rice in 1868, is named after him. During the last year of his incumbency, Bowring also served as the first Chief Commissioner of Coorg. He was created Companion of the Order of the Star of India (CSI) in 1867. He retired from the

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British Raj, British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 3 ...

in 1870 and returned to England the same year.

Author

After retiring from service, Bowring turned his efforts to writing. He authored the book ''Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan and the struggle with the Mussulman powers of the south,'' which was published in 1893 for the Rulers of India series. Bowring also edited his father's notes and published ''Autobiographical Recollections of Sir John Bowring'' in 1877.

Notes

References

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External links

The Bowring Institute
1824 births 1910 deaths People educated at Mount Radford School 19th-century British writers Indian civil servants Lewin Bentham British people in colonial India Companions of the Order of the Star of India {{England-writer-stub