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The Bowles Printer/Publishers Families of London Back to The Bowles of London and Middlesex Their were actually two separate and possibly unrelated Bowles families involved in the early print industry in London. Although my theory is that they were related. See my comments below. Thomas and James Bowles of London: Printers/StationersThis, perhaps less well known, of the two families of printers, consisted of brothers Thomas and James Bowles who operated a Stationers Shop on Newgate Street from 1765 to 1840. They were also connected to the Wace family of London printers. These Bowles brothers came from The Bolles of Abingdon, Berkshire line. James returned to Berkshire where he died in 1782 and Thomas died in London in 1788. Their line did not continue in London. See Thomas and James Bowles: London Stationers The other branch includes three generations of famous 17th and 18th century London publishers, the "Father" of the English Country Garden and leads to the Parker-Bowles of today.Thomas Bowles, the Founder of a Four Generation Dynasty of Printers/Publishers in LondonThis family is really two stories, first the London printing dynasty which lasted 150 years and then became The Bowles of Myddelton House, a line which would eventually include Andrew Parker-Bowles, the Duchess of Cornwall's first husband before Prince Charles. The London printers are not known to have used The Bolles of Swineshead, Lincolnshire coat-of-arms but the Bowles of Myddelton House certainly did although there are some problems with that as I discuss in The Bolles of Abingdon, Berkshire. This line may have been related to the above two brothers who operated a nearby stationers shop in London but I haven't yet found any proof of that. The Four Generations of London PublishersSee also The Bowles of Myddelton House Family Tree
The Bowles of Myddelton House made their fame
and fortune starting in the late 1600’s as early leaders in the London
engraving, printing and publishing industry.
The earliest known in this line was Thomas Bowles, a printer and publisher of engraved pictures with a shop in his house on the corner of Paul's Alley next to the chapter house in St Paul's Churchyard in London. Examples of his work dated from as far back as 1691 have survived. He retired in about 1712 and turned his business over to his sons. He died in 1721 at which time he was described as "a citizen and joiner of St Gregory by Paul's; he also owned four tenements in London House Yard and a half-share in two houses in Bloomsbury." Several histories of the London print industry state that Thomas was 'possibly' the son of John Bowles, a joyner (i.e. a carpenter/woodworker) of St. Lawrence Poultry whose Will was proved in 1652. In that will John left all his lands goods and chattels to his wife Katherine, “not a penny to anyone else” and there is no mention of any children. Printers did often apprentice as joyners as the most difficult part of the process was the hand carving of the wooden plates that they would print from but this John is a bit too old to have been Thomas' father.
King James I of
England and VI of Scotland © National Portrait Gallery, London
mezzotint, early 18th century (1649) © National Portrait Gallery, London
His two sons, Thomas (II) and John followed in the family business. Thomas (II) set up his shop in St. Paul's Churchyard (1712-1763). John Bowles had set up shop at Mercer's Hall in Cheapside by 1725 and moved to The Black Horse, Cornhill by 1734. After that shop was damaged by fire in 1766 he relocated to No. 13 Cornhill (1766-1779). His son, Carrington Bowles, worked with him at Cornhill from 1753 until he took over his Uncle Thomas' business in St. Paul's Churchyard in 1764. Carrington operated his business there until 1793 when it was taken over by his son Henry Carrington Bowles and his partner Samuel Carver operating as Bowles & Carver (1793-1830).
One of John Bowles' more impressive works which is of great use even today to family historians is his 1775 Map of London which shows an incredibly detailed map where the streets our ancestors lived on can be located.
While much of their work relied on using artwork borrowed from famous artists and map makers they also produced many original pieces of novelty scenes and political or religious commentary such as these from Carington Bowles in 1780 and 1781. 
Note: the illustrations showing NPG on the border are used with permission from The National Portrait Gallery, London. Larger images of these and many other works can be viewed on their site at: http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp61969/john-bowles The Bowles of Enfield, HertfordshireIn 1799 Henry Carrington Bowles married Anne Garnault, a member of a wealthy Huguenot family connected to the New River Company. Through her he acquired land in Hertford where he built a new great house, Myddelton House. There he established a new line Bowles line which would eventually lead to Camilla Parker-Bowles, the Duchess of Cornwall. For more on this line see The Bowles of Myddelton House.
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While this family of
engravers/printers/publishers dominated the London market at the same
time there were also two brothers James and Thomas Bowles with a
smaller operation in the publishing industry . There appears to be absolutely no connection between
the two lines in the London market but there are some common factors
which suggest that there might have been an earlier connection.
The Newgate Street brothers were sons of John Bowles of Abingdon,
Berkshire, notable active non-conformists (as defined by the Act of
Uniformity of 1662) while the Enfield/London Printers Bowles line were
also non-conformists. While they used their talents to criticize
and satirize many political figures and issues they were very low key on
religious issues which, if they drew attention to their non-conformity,
would probably have had a negative impact on their sales.
