Politician, diplomat and writer. He was the eldest son of the Exeter wool merchant Charles Bowring (1769–1856) and his wife Sarah Jane Anne (d. 1828). A Unitarian, he worked initially for his father’s wool business and then in the counting-house of Kennaway & Co. In 1811 he moved to London where he was employed by Milford & Co, suppliers to Wellington’s troops in the Iberian peninsula. Bowring travelled widely in Europe on company business. In 1823 his role as secretary of the London Greek Committee brought him into contact with Byron and also led to the onset of serious financial problems. He was an admirer of Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832; DNB). In 1824 the latter appointed Bowring as political editor of the recently founded Westminster Review. In later life Bowring fulfilled a wide range of roles, including MP for Bolton, British Consul at Canton, and Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Devon. Bowring, like Southey, was a gifted modern linguist. He published verse translations of Russian, Dutch, Polish, Serbian, Hungarian, and Czech poetry, and in 1824 he sent Southey a presentation copy of his latest production – Ancient Poetry and Romances of Spain (1824).