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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District]

The Hon. Charles Christopher Bowen

The Hon. Charles Christopher Bowen, M.L.C., of Middleton, near Christchurch, was Minister of Justice and Commissioner of Stamps from the 16th of December, 1874, to the 6th of July, 1875, in the Vogel Government; from the 6th of July 1875 to the 15th of February 1876 in the Pollen Ministry; from the 15th of February to the 1st of September, 1876, in the 2nd Vogel Ministry, and from that date till the 13th of October 1877 in the Atkinson Governments. Mr. Bowen, was born at Milford, County Mayo, Ireland, in 1830. He is the eldest son of Mr. Charles Bowen, who was the third son of Mr. Christopher Bowen of Milford. Mr. Charles Bowen was one of the founders of Canterbury, and from 1855 to 1864 occupied the Speaker's chair in the Provincial Council. Returning to England in the latter year he died at Hastings in 1871. The subject of this notice was educated page 75 at Rugby and Cambridge. Leaving college to join the first party of Canterbury colonists he acted as private secretary to Mr. Godley till December 1852, when that gentleman returned to England, having established the settlement and witnessed the beginning of the Provincial Government under the Constitution Act. It was not long before Mr. Bowen became Provincial Treasurer and a member of the Provincial Executive. At that time he wrote most of the political articles for the Lyttelton Times, of which paper he and Mr. Crosbie Ward were joint owners for a few years. The honourable gentleman co-operated with Mr. Moorhouse and the Provincial Government in inaugurating the first New Zealand railway, and urged on the construction of the Moorhouse Tunnel, a huge undertaking in those early days. Resigning in 1859 he returned to England. Two years later he published, in Vacation Tourists, edited by Mr. F. Galton, a description of an expedition in the Peruvian Andes to the seats of the old Inca civilization. In 1862 Mr. Bowen came back to the
The Hon. Charles Christopher Bowen

Photo by Kinsey.

Colony and was appointed Resident Magistrate at Christchurch in 1864, which position he held for ten years. When Mr. Moorhouse was about to retire from the Superintendency of the Province in 1868 Mr. Bowen was urged by the leaders of both political parties to stand for the office of Superintendent, to which he would doubtless have been elected without opposition, but he declined. In 1874 the honourable gentleman became Minister of Justice in the Vogel Ministry and was called to the Upper House. Almost immediately afterwards he resigned his seat to contest the Kaiapoi electorate, which had fallen vacant; in this he was successful. In the debates of 1875-1876 on the abolition of the provinces he took an active part, and has expressed himself decidedly opposed to the system of Party Government in New Zealand. Mr. Bowen is the author of the Education Act of 1877 which he successfully piloted through the House, and thus a national system of primary education was for the first time established in the Colony. While holding the portfolio of Justice he strove to secure an improvement in prison management and introduced the “mark” system into the gaols of New Zealand. In the same year Mr. Bowen retired with his colleagues on the defeat of the Whitaker-Atkinson Ministry. He continued member for Kaiapoi during three successive Parliaments and did not seek re-election in 1881, being about to pay a visit to the “Old Land.” He has shown great interest in the management of educational institutions, and sat as a chairman of the Canterbury Education Board, and as president of the Collegiate Union which was affiliated to the New Zealand University as precursor of Canterbury College for the years 1872-1874. He was one of the first members of the Board of Governors of Canterbury College, but resigned his seat and at the same time his membership of the Board of Education, owing to his frequent absence from home. He is a member of the Senate of the New Zealand University; and was called to the Legislative Council for the second time in 1890. Mr. Bowen was married in 1861 to Georgina Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. D. Markham, Canon of Windsor. His family numbers seven—four sons and three daughters. The eldest son, Mr. Charles D. Bowen, is a magistrate and collector in Perak, Strait's Settlements. The Rev. George H. C. Bowen, B. A. (Cambridge), second son, is senior curate at Sutton-Coldfield, Warwickshire; Mr. Lambert Bowen is in the Railway Engineers' Department in Western Australia; the youngest, Mr. Gerald M. Bowen is in the Colony. Mr. Bowen's eldest daughter is married to Mr. R. J. Scott, C. E., Professor of Engineering at Canterbury College.