Thomas Edward Bowdich (20 June 1791 – 10 January 1824) was an English traveller and author.[1]
Bowdich was born inBristol, England, and was educated atBristol Grammar School. In 1813, he marriedSarah Wallis, who shared his subsequent career.In 1814, through his uncle,John Hope Smith, governor of the BritishGold Coast settlements, he obtained a writership in the service of theAfrican Company of Merchants and was sent toCape Coast.In 1817, he was sent, with two companions, William Hutchison and Henry Tedlie, toKumasi on a mission toOsei Bonsu, theKing of Asante, and chiefly through his skilful diplomacy the mission succeeded in its object of securing British control over the coast natives.
In 1818, Bowdich returned to England, and in 1819 published an account of his mission and of the study he had made of the court of Kumasi, entitledMission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee, &c. (London, 1819). He donated his Ashanti collection to theBritish Museum on his return, although the items would not receive the attention of the museum's trustees until after his death.[2][3] His collection was an attempt to acquire items that depicted local crafts at the time. The collection remains the earliest documented one of Ashanti material, some of them the oldest surviving from that time, such as the oldest-known survivingadinkra cloth.[3]
Bowdich publicly attacked the management of the African committee who ran the African Company of Merchants. His strictures were instrumental in leading the British government to dissolve the African Company and assume direct control over the Gold Coast.[4]
From 1820 to 1822, Bowdich lived inParis, France, studying mathematics and the natural sciences, and he was on intimate terms withGeorges Cuvier,Alexander von Humboldt and other savants. During his stay in France, Bowdich edited several works on Africa, and also wrote scientific works.In 1822, accompanied by his wife, he went toLisbon, Spain, where, from a study of historic manuscripts, he publishedAn Account of the Discoveries of the Portuguese in . . . Angola and Mozambique (London, 1824).[5]In 1823, Bowdich and his wife, after some months spent inMadeira and theCape Verde Islands, arrived at Bathurst (nowBanjul) at the mouth of theGambia, intending to go toSierra Leone and thence explore the interior.[4] However, Bowdich died frommalaria while in Bathurst on 10 January 1824, leaving his widow Sarah with three children.[citation needed]
His widow,Sarah (Wallis) Bowdich Lee, published an account of Bowdich's last journey, entitledExcursions in Madeira and Porto Santo . . . to which is added A Narrative of the Continuance of the Voyage to its Completion, &c (London, 1825).Bowdich's daughter, Mrs Tedlie Hutchison Hale, republished in 1873, with an introductory preface, her father'sMission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee.[4]
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bowdich, Thomas Edward".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 341.