Life

Bowie was born in London, and entered the service of the Royal Gardens, Kew, in 1810. In 1814 he was appointed botanical collector to the gardens, with Allan Cunningham

Allan Cunningham (botanist)

Allan Cunningham was an English botanist and explorer, primarily known for his travels in New South Wales to collect plants.- Early life :...

. They went to Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

 for two years, making collections of plants and seeds.

In 1817 Bowie was sent to the Cape

Cape Province

The Province of the Cape of Good Hope was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of South Africa...

; here he made journeys into the interior, and gathered collections of living and dried plants, while making drawings for the Kew herbarium; the dried specimens went mostly to the British Museum

British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

. A vote of the House of Commons having reduced the sum granted for botanical collectors, Bowie was recalled in 1823, taking up his residence at Kew.

After four years of inactivity he set out again for the Cape, where he was for some years gardener to Baron Ludwig of Ludwigsberg. He became a correspondent of William Henry Harvey

William Henry Harvey

William Henry Harvey was an Irish botanist who specialised in algae.- Biography :William Henry Harvey was born at Summerville near Limerick, Ireland, in 1811, the youngest of 11 children. His father Joseph Massey Harvey, was a Quaker and prominent merchant...

, who dedicated to him the genus Bowiea

Bowiea

Bowiea is a bulbous genus of perennial, succulent plants which thrive in dry and desert regions of South Africa and America. The plants have many overlapping scales, which form a tight, pale green, spherical bulb that grows to 8 in above the soil, sending up a twining fresh-green branched stem...

.

Bowie left his employment in or before 1841, and made journeys into the interior to collect plants for sale. He died in poverty in 1853.