BOWDEN, THOMAS ADOLPHUS (1824-1906), a son of John Saunders Bowden, solicitor, of London, was educated privately at Totteridge, Hertfordshire, and at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. (1845). In 1847 he was ordained deacon and in 1848 priest. He was curate of Holy Trinity, Brompton (1847-50) and of Tresco, Scilly Islands.

In 1851 Bowden came to Nelson and was appointed curate of Waimea South. In 1860 he was private secretary to Bishop Hobhouse and in the following year re-opened the Bishop's school, which he conducted till 1863. He then moved to Wellington with the intention of opening a private grammar school, but was appointed inspector of schools for the province. In this position he looked forward to the establishment of middle-class schools in Wellington and at the Hutt and Wanganui. In 1866 he advised H. E. Tuckey (B.A., of St John's, Cambridge) and W. S. Hamilton (of Edinburgh Training College, who had been engaged at the Geelong High School) to start a grammar school as a private venture. This they did under the superintendence of Bowden and carried on for several years, the classes being held in the Independent chapel. This school developed into Wellington College, of which Bowden became headmaster in 1869, continuing in charge till 1874. He had strong views on secondary education and disliked the proposal that his staff should give university lectures simply because they were fully employed otherwise. In 1874 Bowden retired, after a very successful term as headmaster, and opened in Featherston Street an 'educational institute' and a private school, known as the English High School. The premises soon became inadequate for the number of pupils and in 1877 Bowden's health began to fail and he resigned and withdrew from teaching.

He accepted the curacy of Greymouth (1877); was later vicar of All Saints, Nelson, and was temporarily in charge of St John's, Wakefield (1881-82). While there he became interested in fruit-growing. Bowden was a man of fine presence and a commanding personality. His views on education, which were sound and progressive, he set out in a letter to Sir William Fox in 1868. In 1869 he published his Manual of New Zealand Geography and in 1900 Words of the Wise. He died on 24 Jun 1906.

N.Z. Clergy List, 1889; Butchers; Leckie (p); Hocken, Bibliog.; Macmorran; The Colonist, 27 Jun 1906; Nelson Dioc. Gaz., Aug 1906.

Reference: Volume 1, page 56

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