Thomas Gibson Bowles

Thomas Gibson Bowles (15 January 1841 — 12 January 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

External links

* [http://gettysburg.cdmhost.com/u?/p126301coll1,11 Thomas Gibson Bowles Photograph part of the Nineteenth Century Notables Collection at Gettysburg College]