Thomas Gibson Bowles
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Thomas Gibson Bowles (January 15, 1841 — January 12, 1922), generally known as Tommy Bowles, was the founder of the magazines The Lady and the English Vanity Fair, a sailor and the maternal grandfather of the Mitford sisters.
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[edit] Parents
He was the illegitimate offspring of Thomas Milner Gibson and a servant girl named Susannah Bowles. He attended school in France and then the University of London for a year. His father gave him a yearly stipend of £90 and helped him find a job at Somerset House.
[edit] Journalism
He began his journalism and publishing career by writing a column for the Morning Post in 1866. His coverage of the Siege of Paris sent by balloon and pigeon post ensured his fame.
He then borrowed £200 to found Vanity Fair in 1868. Shattered by the death of his wife Jessica (nee Evans-Gordon) in childbirth, he sold his stake in Vanity Fair to Arthur H. Evans in 1877 for £20,000. He founded The Lady magazine in 1885, supposedly spurred by advice Jessica had once given to him. He became a competent sailor and wrote for decades in support of the Royal Navy. Bowles (nicknamed Jehu Junior after a biblical prophet who effected the downfall of his enemies) compiled the biographical notes that went with the caricatures. He was editor for twenty years and shaped magazine policy so that no-one was exempt from his enquiring eye. This approach made for an entertaining and popular magazine.
The targets of Jehu Junior's satire usually considered themselves honoured to have been chosen, and although the scrutiny was acute, it was humorous rather than malicious. Bowles managed to achieve this extraordinarily difficult balancing act throughout his association with the magazine.
[edit] Politics
At the 1892 general election, he was elected as Conservative Party Member of Parliament for King's Lynn and served in the House of Commons until losing his seat at the 1906 election. He was re-elected at the January 1910 as a Liberal, but lost his seat again at the December 1910 election.
He died while on a holiday at Algeciras, Spain, and is buried in Gibraltar.
[edit] Family
In 1875 he married Jessica (1852-87), daughter of General Charles Evans-Gordon (1813-1901), a descendant of "Gordon of Lochinvar", and his wife Catherine, née Rose. Their children were:
- George (1877-1955) RN, MP & barrister;
- Geoffrey (1879-1968) Royal Navy Commander;
- Sydney (1880-1963), later Lady Redesdale, the mother of the Mitford sisters;
- Dorothy (1885-1971) who married Col. Percy Bailey.
According to his grand-daughter Julia Budworth, Bowles also fathered the last 3 of the four children of his house-keeper and assistant Rita Shell, who changed her surname to Stewart. They were Humphrey (b.1891), Oliver (b. 1895) and Peter (b. 1900). (See "Never Forget" pp.616-618"). Peter Stewart later assisted at Marlborough House when it was used by Queen Mary.
[edit] Bibliography
- The Log of the Nereid by Thomas Bowles
- The Irrepressible Victorian by Leonard Naylor (Macdonald, London 1965)
- The Fall of Paris: The Siege and the Commune, 1870-1. by Alistair Horne London: Macmillan, 1965.
- The House of Mitford by Jonathan Guinness with Catherine Guinness (Hutchinson, 1984) ISBN 0 09 155560 4
- Never Forget by Julia Budworth (Privately published, 2001) ISBN 0 9539963
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Alexander Weston Jarvis |
Member of Parliament for King's Lynn 1892–1906 |
Succeeded by Carlyon Bellairs |
| Preceded by Carlyon Bellairs |
Member of Parliament for King's Lynn January 1910–December 1910 |
Succeeded by Holcombe Ingleby |
