Maria's Diary 40

Chapter 40

Thy children shall not faint nor fear,

Sustained by this delightful thought,

Since Thou, their God, art everywhere,

They cannot be where thou art not.

1870’s

Words from Papa’s last toast, given at an 1872 Unitarian gathering in London, best sum up his message, even if in practice he had not always personally followed it:

We are bound to be in the vanguard in the great struggles for civil and religious liberty . . . It is the duty of Unitarians to be at the head of the army, that they should lead the forlorn with hope, through the breeches of the citadel, and there erect the flag on which we will subscribe, "Liberty for all, equality for all, the right and duty of private judgment.”

In the closing years of his life Papa's mental and physical faculties were strong and apparently unimpaired. When verging upon eighty years of age he addressed an assemblage of three thousand persons at Plymouth with all the energy of youth. After a very brief illness he died at Exeter on 23 November 1872.

Papa  was a fellow of the Royal Society, a knight commander of the Belgian order of Leopold and a knight commander of the order of Christ of Portugal with the star; he had the grand cordon of the Spanish order of Isabella the Catholic, and of the order of Kamehameha I; he was a noble of the first class of Siam, with the insignia of the White Elephant, a knight commander with the star of the Austrian order of Francis Joseph, and of the Swedish order of the Northern Star, and also of the Italian order of St. Michael and St. Lazarus; and he was an honorary member of many of the learned societies of Europe. He received no fewer than thirty diplomas and certificates from various academies and other learned bodies and societies

From Daily Telegraph his eulogy, copied by most other newspapers

He had written his eulogy himself a few years earlier, although it was added to by the various newspapers.  We all attended his funeral, which was at St. George’s Meeting Hall. 

By the death of Sir John Bowing a kind heart has ceased to beat, a strong brain has finished its earthly work, and a vigorous frame has succumbed to the messy laws of decay. Without ranking with the foremost spirits of the time, he was nevertheless emphatically a reasonable man and if it were possible to measure a life work of Jeremy Bentham’s favourite pupil it would be found that Sir John had done more than the average of “the greatest good for the greatest number.“ 

By creating books of the excellent literary works of Jeremy Bentham he helped to establish Benthamism, which under any other name is now amongst the strongest of modern schools.

He popularised the less than well known folk songs from the continent, translated with a verse like linguistic facility for the Serbians, Polish Magyar, Scandinavian, Frisian, Esthorian and many other languages. He produced pamphlets and columns upon the questions of labour morals, fiscal and commercial systems, the slave trade, war, and what not.

He negotiated commercial treaties in France, Belgium, Switzerland and the Zollverein (Poland). He was the author of excellent incidental reforms in Parliament. He was the father of the florin.

What a prominent part he played in China and how he went to Siam and familiarized us with white elephants and the two kings who reign there - all this is written in political annals. Then he gave the Chinese novel and Siamese philosophy all which was immense work but kept his powerful mind healthy and amused. Sir John was in truth a fine specimen of the British capacity for hard work. Let it be added that his activity was almost along the side of human progress; that he was enlightened in religious and social respects and his support was solid in wanting to a good cause. Of such a man we may truly say, “his work does follow him” and dying as he has done at 81 years of age, he rebukes that spirit and bridges of the soul that free use of the body. Sir John is a fresh proof that we thrive on hard work and die of idleness.

Papa’s two coffins with the inner made of lead and the outer  in French oak mounted with finely chased medieval furniture in wrought brass. The family crest, a demi lion, featured on it.  He was buried in the Higher Cemetery.  Exeter, and on his tombstone were the words from probably his most famous hymn, In the Cross of Christ I Glory. He wrote it after seeing a cross in a fire gutted church on the shore while sailing past Macau in China. 

The paper also mentioned three of my brothers, John Charles for his gift to the British museum of specimens. And this is what it said about Lewin and Edgar. But the paper never mentioned Frederick or Edith and me. It was as if we didn’t matter, and we were hurt by the omission. 

 Mr. Lewin Bowring, was Lord Canning's private secretary through the Indian mutiny of 1857, and held for some time the post of chief commissioner of Mysore and Coorg. A third son, Mr. Edgar. A. Bowring , C.B., represented his native city of Exeter in parliament from 1868  and was made companion of the Bath for his services in connection with the Great Exhibition of 1851. He is also known in literature for his translations of Goethe, Schiller, and Heine.

Another newspaper The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette gave a less positive account of his life. 

“He crowded an amazing amount of activity into a lifetime of 80 years, he did too much to do it all well. It is a singular fact that not one of his family adopted his religious views. The father was strongly rationalistic: the children belong to the very opposite school of thought.”

He wrote this poem for us.

My wife, my children, when death’s hour is come

Dry every every gushing tear, I pray

And rather smile that I am welcomed home

And to a better country make my way. 

After Papa’s death Deborah  went abroad for a while. I decided that I would live with her, although because of our differences of outlook on religious matters, it was far from a comfortable relationship.  I went to many meetings with her, but not any that were about the Unitarian cause. But I shared her interest in suffragettes. She became a vice-president of the Bristol and West of England Society for Women's Suffrage.

In 1873  she published a book of Papa's poetry to which she attached a biography she had written. She called it A Memorial Volume of Sacred Poetry by the late Sir John Bowring, LLD, with a memorial from Lady Bowring. 

This is just a short passage she wrote from the introduction. 

“If my task has been a sad one, I may truly say that my occupation has not been dissociated from other feelings. That in dwelling on the words we concentrate the thoughts of bygone years; in reviewing  the active political struggles and controversies in which my late husband was engaged, and were all in the God-like spirit that oriented the faith in the Divine love.. He cheered the entire  belief in the ultimate prevalence of truth and goodness. Encouraged by him, I too have found them sources  of  consolation.”