BOWEN, SIR CHARLES CHRISTOPHER (1830-1917) came of an old county family of Welsh origin, descended from Robert, son of John ap Owen, or Bowen, who in 1578 was granted a castle and lands at Ballyadams, Ireland, and was appointed provost-marshal of the province of Leinster and the counties of East and West Meath. Bowen was born in Milford, county Mayo, and educated for some years in France, where he gained a lifelong facility in the language. He went to Rugby and to Cambridge (to study for the bar), but before he could proceed to his degree his father had become deeply interested in the Canterbury Association, and sailed with his family in the Charlotte Jane (arriving in Lyttelton Dec 1850).

Charles Bowen, senior, played the appropriate part of leader of the settlement. He was a member for Christchurch Country district in the first Provincial Council and afterwards for Avon. Thrice he was deputy-superintendent, and for nine years (from 1855-64) speaker of the council. In 1864 he returned to England, and he died at Hastings in 1871.

When scarcely in his twenties C. C. Bowen threw himself with enthusiasm and marked ability into the life of the colony. For two years he was private secretary to Godley, the virtual governor, riding across the hills between Lyttelton and the land office at Christchurch almost every second day. He rode from end to end of the South Island, going as far as Nelson to visit Domett, who was civil secretary for the South Island. When Godley returned to England (1852) Bowen was appointed inspector of police and he had to do his part in the apprehension and prosecution of James Mackenzie for sheep-stealing. At the age of 24 he became provincial treasurer. He was never a member of the Provincial Council, though he was for some time (1858-59) in Cass's executive. His association with Moorhouse demonstrated his capacity for administration and his constructive mind. They co-operated heartily in the project for piercing the Port hills by a railway tunnel, and Bowen furnished much of the data which enabled Moorhouse to promote the scheme in the Council. In 1856 Bowen was appointed a commissioner of the waste lands board; in 1857 a justice of the peace and in 1858 a commissioner of native reserves. From the early days of the settlement he had taken part in journalism, contributing to the columns of the Lyttelton Times. In 1856 he became one of the proprietors, joining with Crosbie Ward in acquiring the property from J. Shrimpton for £5,000, and he continued to write leading articles for his colleague. In 1859 he sold his interest in the paper to William Reeves (whose partners were W. J. W. Hamilton and T. W. Maude) and resigned his official posts to visit England. Bowen's tour abroad was not only a period of travel, but an intellectual exercise. He took a ship to Peru (1860), and crossed the Andes in company with Clements Markham, who had previously spent two years there with a view to acclimatising the cinchona plant in India. That journey Bowen described in Galton's Vacation Tourists (1861), and he was elected a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. In the United States and Canada he formed friendships with many intellectuals, including Longfellow, Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Alexander Agassiz. In Great Britain he fought hard for the Lyttelton tunnel scheme, demonstrating to financiers and engineers that the conditions of Canterbury urgently demanded the adoption of bold measures, and that the proposal was not a fantastic one. Bowen spent the greater part of 1861 in England, where he married Georgina Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev D. Markham, canon of Windsor.

Returning to Canterbury (1862) he was soon back at his post as receiver of land revenues. In 1864 he was appointed resident magistrate at Christchurch, and during his tenure of that office (ending in 1874) he studied criminal psychology and formed plans of reform which later he was able to put into effect as Minister of Justice. To him is due the inauguration of the system of marks, enabling prisoners by good conduct to earn a reduction of their terms of confinement. When Moorhouse was about to retire from the Superintendency (1868) leaders of both parties in provincial politics suggested that Bowen should be nominated, but he declined. In 1872-74 he was chairman of the Canterbury education board. He was also president of the Collegiate Association (which was affiliated to the university of New Zealand as the forerunner of Canterbury College). When the college came into existence he was nominated by the Provincial Council to the first board of governors, upon which he acted in 1873-75 and 1878-85. In 1874 Vogel invited Bowen to succeed O'Rorke as Minister of Justice and Commissioner of Stamps. He accordingly resigned the magistracy and was appointed to the Legislative Council, but the opportunity was soon offered by the retirement of John Studholme for him to enter the House as member for Kaiapoi (1875). 'He was a man of very attractive manners and quick perception,' says Saunders, 'with great tact and far-reaching ability, which soon caused him to be appreciated in commercial circles and gave him an opportunity of retreat from the false step he had taken in accepting office under Mr Vogel.' In the subsequent changes of government Bowen retained his portfolio of justice and stamps (under Pollen, 1875-76; Vogel, 1876; Atkinson, 1876; and in the reconstructed Atkinson government, 1876-77). In 1877 he was permitted by Atkinson to bring forward an education bill, which eventually became law, and 'has left the most indelible mark on the history of New Zealand.' Bowen, according to Saunders, had some very valuable qualifications and experience which 'contributed to open his eyes to the real magnitude of the many stumbling blocks he would have to contend with. Intensely alive to the ridiculous and absurd, he was conciliatory and politic in all his movements, and was more amused than irritated by listening to the most frivolous objections.' The bill which Bowen brought down provided for Bible-reading in the schools, but he gave way on that and a few other points, and eventually secured the passage of the law of 1877, which established the present system of free, compulsory, and secular education. When the Whitaker-Atkinson government was defeated, Bowen retired. He remained in Parliament for Kaiapoi until 1881, when he paid another long visit to England. He then devoted himself to business and to public life in more local spheres. He was manager of the New Zealand Trust and Loan Co. In 1886 he was elected a director of the New Zealand Shipping Co. on which board he remained until his death. In 1884 he was elected first president of the West Coast Railway League, the object of which was to push on the Midland railway. In 1881-82 he was on the senate of the University of New Zealand, and again 1888-1915, being elected vice-chancellor in 1903. Just before the last Atkinson government went out of office (1891) Bowen was appointed to the Legislative Council, one of the last life-members. He was speaker 1905-15. Sir Clements Markham being now president of the Royal Geographical Society, Bowen threw himself heart and soul into the preparations in New Zealand for Scott's Antarctic expedition. In 1914 he was made a K.C.M.G. He remained a member of the Council until his death (12 Dec 1917). Lady Bowen died on 6 Jun 1921.

Gisborne says of Bowen: 'He combined with a thorough mastery of his subject persuasive powers of a high order, a conciliatory attitude, firmness where he deemed it necessary, and patient forbearance from angry retort. He has a winning and gentle manner. His speeches are good and logical, but more notable for mild persuasiveness than polemic force.' Bowen to the day of his death read French almost as freely as English, and he found mental relaxation throughout life in the Greek and Latin classics. He was one of the scholars to whom the General Assembly Library owes the strong classical character which it early acquired. As a poet Bowen held no mean place. He published in Christchurch in 1861 The Battle of the Free (including a spirited poem foreshadowing the rally of the colonies to the Mother Country). He was a lover of trees, of which he had a profound knowledge; and for many years was an active member of the Christchurch domain board.

Canterbury P.C. Proc. and Gaz.; Saunders (p); Gisborne; Cox; Reeves; Hansard, 9 Apr 1915; Beaglehole; The Press, 19 Mar 1903, 15 Mar 1930 (p); Lyttelton Times, 9 Oct 1882, 13 Dec 1917. Portrait: Parliament House

Reference: Volume 1, page 56

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