John Bowtell (1753–1813) was an English topographer.
Life
editBowtell was born in the parish of Holy Trinity, Cambridge, in 1753, became a bookbinder and stationer there. He compiled a history of the town to include the university and Barnwell Priory, keeping it by him unprinted; collected fossils, manuscripts, and other curiosities;[1] and was a member of the London College Youths.[2] He was also an enthusiastic bell-ringer, and in 1788, at Great St. Mary's, Cambridge, he rang on the 30-cwt. tenor bell as many as 6,609 harmonious changes 'in the method of bob maximus, generally termed "twelve-in."'
Death and legacy
editBowtell had no family, and dying on 1 December 1813, aged 60, he made the following important bequests for the benefit of Cambridge: £7,000. to enlarge Addenbrooke's Hospital;[3] £1,000. to repair Holy Trinity; £500. to repair St. Michael's; £500. to apprentice boys belonging to Hobson's workhouse; and his 'History of the Town' and other manuscripts, his books, his fossils, and curiosities, to Downing College.[4] He was buried at St. Michael's, where the Addenbrooke's Hospital governors erected a tablet to his memory. The governors also placed a portrait of him in their court-room.
Notes
edit- ^ Cambridge University Calendar 1830., p. 369, (Cambridge). His collections (MSS. Bowtell) were provided to Downing College, founded in 1800. This unpublished compilation contains town accounts from A.D. 1510 to 1787.
- ^ British clubs and societies, 1580-1800: the origins of an associational world, Peter Clark, p. 48 (Oxford 2002).
- ^ Cambridge University Calendar 1830., p. 214.
- ^ The Academy, vol. iv. No. 70, pp. 154-157 (Historical MSS. Commission III), 15 April 1873.
References
edit. Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.