[Bell Historians] Founder: Bowen of London

[c.j.pickford at talk21.com]

Apologies for being slow to contribute to this, but I've been away. Thanks, too, to Ted Steele for reminding me of the 2009 correspondence about Bowen.

 

I’ve checked the Bowen bell list of 2009 against those that are currently in my list and there’s nothing significant to add – just a small Bowen & Co school bell in Huntingdonshire, and the USA bell that Bob Davies has located. Is this bell dated, Bob? And what size (mouth diameter) is it?

 

Re the Bowen firm, I’ve done some further work since 2009. A Robert Bowen, brass and bell founder, is listed at 62 Red Lion Square, Clerkenwell in 1832 (Sun Fire Office insurance policy). Robert died in 1838 and his will was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC). He was succeeded by his widow Mary Ann Bowen (listed in 1841 and 1851 censuses, with two sons Frederick and Charles. Frederick Bowen’s will was also proved in the PCC in 1854. By the 1850s the firm was trading at the Phoenix Foundry in Clerkenwell, said to have been founded in 1808. I believe that the firm was still continuing in some form right into the 1960s. Of the 1850s there is a rather nice little trade card (copy attached).

 

These brief notes are really just pointers for some further research that needs to be done. I haven’t looked at the wills yet even though I have online access. On the face of it there’s no immediate connection with John Bowen of Bridgwater who was apprenticed to the local bellfounder Thomas Pike – but I certainly wouldn’t rule out the possibility

 

A hasty update – but a few extra things to go on

 

Chris Pickford

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