Martin Bowes 1670-1726

Martin BOWES 1670-1726

Biographical Note

Son of Paul Bowes, lawyer. Matriculated at St John's College, Cambridge 1686, but did not graduate; he was admitted at the Middle Temple 1686 (barrister 1693), and subsequently developed a legal practice in Bury St Edmunds. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, probably in 1699 (there is some confusion between him and his father in the records).

Books

Bowes inherited books from his father, to which he added himself; we do not know the extent or contents of his library In his will, he directed that all his "household goods plate books pictures drawings and prints" remain with his wife during the remainder of her life, and thereafter become the property of his daughter Elizabeth.

Martin Bowes's inscription (Cicero, Epistolarum libri xvi, Amsterdam, 1677, private collection)

Characteristic Markings

Bowes inscribed his books on the titlepages or preliminary leaves, "Martin Bowes". Blatchly also notes him repurposing a bookplate (Franks 3279) used by another member of the family, Thomas Bowes, by cutting out the name Thomas and writing his own beneath.

Sources

• Will of Martin Bowes, The National Archives PROB 11/610/430.
• Blatchly, J., Some Suffolk and Norfolk ex-libris, London, 2000, p.118-9.
• Goodwin, Gordon, and David Dean. "Bowes, Paul (d. 1702), lawyer and antiquary." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• Venn, J. and J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge, 1922.