Charles Calvert Bowring

Sir Charles Calvert Bowring (1872–1945) was a British colonial administrator.

Personal life

Bowring was educated at Clifton College, and entered the colonial service in 1890. In 1909 he married Ethel Dorothy Watts, daughter of G. K. Watts; they had four sons and three daughters.^[1]

East Africa / Kenya

Bowring was appointed Treasurer of the East African Protectorate (EAP) in 1901, and Chief Secretary to the Government in 1911.^[2] He was Chief Secretary for the EAP, later renamed Kenya, from 1911 until 1924, when he was appointed Governor of Nyasaland. During this period he was also a Grand Deacon of the Grand Lodge of Freemasons.^[3]

In October 1912 Bowring was appointed to a commission on labor in the EAP. The report was published in 1913, containing written and aural submissions from over two hundred Europeans and sixty Africans. Much of this evidence had been called a "concerted display of negrophobe malevolence".^[4]

Between 1917 and 1919 Bowring was acting Governor of the East African Protectorate.^[5] Bowring became acting governor of the EAP at a time when the colony was recovering from famine, there was a shortage of manpower and settlers were becoming increasingly assertive. Bowring was not always favorable to settlers, pushed measures that could benefit the African population and was less bigoted than most about the Indian immigrants. However, when face to face with settlers he often gave in to their demands.^[6]

Bowring was opposed to extending the franchise beyond the settlers. He said "I am in entire agreement that it would be undesirable to extend the franchise to Asiatics and Natives. In the special circumstances affecting this protectorate, it is in my opinion essential that each race shall be separately represented and that any general scheme of franchise embracing all British subjects would be most unsuitable because of the complete difference in the education, mental development, standard of living, local interests, and in fact the whole social fabric of the various races which constitute the local community of British subjects and British protected subjects".

He supported the idea of two nominated Indians and one African on the legislative council.^[7]

In response to a financial crisis in the colony, he proposed to increase the hut and poll taxes. Despite resistance from the Colonial Office, he pushed the measure through, to take effect in the 1920-1921 fiscal year.^[8] Although supporting the idea of settling veterans of World War I in the colony, he pointed out that there were shortages both of land and of labor, and said that settlers should have capital of more than ₤500. He was strongly in favor of extending the railway across the Uasin Gishu plateau for the benefit of the settlers in that area.^[9]

Nyasaland

Bowring was appointed Governor and Commander in Chief of the Nyasaland Protectorate in 1923.^[2] He held office until 30 May 1929.^[10] In October 1925, Bowring laid the foundation stone of the new buildings at Livingstonia, which Dr Robert Laws wanted to develop into a university for African students in Nyasaland and neighboring colonies. He wrote "Livingstonia appeals to me enormously as a training centre because of its comparative isolation and at the same time easy accessibility. The students are away from the many temptations of town life, and within easy reach by the lake and in touch by telegraph".^[11]

Bowring believed that the future of the Nyasaland protectorate would be based on developing agriculture. A few European planters would be involved, but mostly the land would be developed by Africans instructed by Europeans. He was against setting aside large amounts of land for European use. Of shortage of land for Africans in the Shire Highlands he said "the only method of dealing with the problem is to re-acquire from the landowners convenient blocks of sufficient area to accommodate the natives at present resident on the estates for whom accommodation acceptable to them and to Government cannot be provided elsewhere on Crown Land". He proposed to pay for the scheme through a graduated land tax, hitting the largest estates hardest.^[12]

There were delays and disputes over the proposed reforms. In the second half of 1926 Bowring returned to England on leave and met in person with officials at the Colonial Office, but was not able to gain agreement on settling the land problem. In 1927 he submitted a revised bill to the Legislative Council, and finally in 1928 the "Native Tenants on Private Estates Bill" was passed. Africans resident on estates were liable to pay rent equivalent to about 2–3 months' pay, and in return would get a plot of land large enough to grow crops for their family and materials for a hut. The owner could not claim rent if he refused to offer work.^[13]

Official policy in Nyasaland was to consolidate villages to facilitate administration and control. By the late 1920s the practice had largely been abandoned. Bowring tried to revive it, trying to drum up support from chiefs and district officers, but it lapsed again after he had left office.^[14] On the question of the future of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), Bowring was in favor of a three-way partition. Part would go to South Africa and part to Southern Rhodesia, while the northeast would be combined with Nyasaland in joining an East African federation.^[15]

References

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Sources