Matthew Bowden (abt. 1778 - 1814)

Born about 1778 in Houghton-Le-Spring, County of Durham, England

Descendants

Died 23 Oct 1814 at about age 36 in Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land, New South Wales, Australia

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Biography

Matthew BOWDEN, Assistant Surgeon on the 'Calcutta' https://www.htfs.org.au/settlers1804.php#settlers

Matthew Bowden, surgeon, died aged 35 years on 23 Oct 1814 and was buried on 29 Oct 1814 in Hobart. ^[1]

Maria Stanfield was baptised on 23 Jun 1782 in Portsea, St Mary Anglican, Hampshire, England. Father Richd Mother Ann. ^[2]

Richard Sargent of the Royal Marine Forces employed on board His Majesty's ship 'Calcutta' and Maria Stanfield of the parish of St Thomas Portsmouth were married on board HM Ship 'Calcutta' this twenty third day of April in the year of our Lord 1803 by me Robert Knopwood MA Assistant Chaplain to the Colony of Port Phillip. Banns published Parish of Winnaring April 3, 10, 17. Marriage recorded in Hobart. ^[3]

Dr Bowden and Maria Sergeant, the wife of a marine, were examples of the extent to which "adulterous" relationships could nevertheless be a loving and stable one. Their partnership lasted from the voyage from London in 1803 until Bowden's death in 1814. On his tomb in St David's Park, Hobart, Maria had inscribed that their two children were left "with a disconsolate mother to lament the loss of their dear protector who fulfilled the duties of an affectionate father, a tender husband and a faithful friend." ^[4]

Bowden, Matthew (1779-1814) This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, (MUP), 1966

Matthew Bowden (1779?-1814), surgeon, served as a surgeon in the Royal Lancashire Regiment before he was commissioned as a civil assistant surgeon on 14 January 1803 to accompany Lieutenant-Governor David Collins's expedition to found a settlement at Port Phillip. He sailed in the Ocean, accompanied Collins when the settlement was transferred to Hobart Town, and was one of the first ashore, landing at Frederick Henry Bay on 12 February 1804 and walking to Risdon on the River Derwent. In the starving years of the new colony, Bowden played a prominent role attending the sick, condemning imported stores as unfit for human consumption and joining the celebrations when each store ship arrived. He was one on the first to equip his assigned servants to hunt kangaroos for meat; one of his men was speared by Aboriginals and left to die in the bush. On his 100 acres (40 ha) at Humphrey's Rivulet, granted in August 1804, Bowden had a vegetable garden and crops, and began to acquire livestock. He also encouraged exploration, himself making a three-day excursion up the Derwent Valley, and by 1809 he was depasturing sheep at New Norfolk.

In May 1809 when William Bligh arrived in the Porpoise, Bowden certified the ill health of some of her crew, but he was credited with leading Hobart's civil officers in opposition to the deposed governor. Next year he attended Collins at his death in March, and in April was appointed first assistant surgeon of the civil medical establishment in Hobart; in October Lachlan Macquarie, impressed by his record, granted him an additional 500 acres (202 ha) on the Derwent and, after the death of I'Anson in November 1811, appointed him principal surgeon at a salary of £182 10s. Soon afterwards, when Macquarie visited Hobart, he was shocked to find the civil hospital in very bad order and Bowden 'a man of dissolute habits, prematurely old'. He instructed the commandant 'not to permit Bowden to presume to molest a marine … on account of him having had his lawful wife restored to him by my orders', and later warned Thomas Davey against him. Nevertheless Robert Knopwood recorded that 'the whole community was plunged into gloom' by Bowden's sudden death on 23 October 1814.

Select Bibliography Historical Records of Australia, series 1, vols 7-8, series 3, vols 1-2 W. H. Hudspeth, Hudspeth Memorial Volume: An Introduction to the Diaries of the Rev. Robert Knopwood, A.M., and G.T.W.B. Boyes (Hob, 1954). Citation details 'Bowden, Matthew (1779-1814)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bowden-matthew-1808/text2059, published first in hardcopy 1966, accessed online 20 December 2020.

This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, (MUP), 1966

From http://jillettfamily.com/Elizabeth_s_Children_5._Elizabeth_Jillett_&_John_Bodwen.html#:~:text=Surgeon%20Matthew%20Bowden%20arrived%20at%20Port%20Phillip%20with,1803%2C%20four%20days%20before%20the%20%22HMS%20Calcutta%22%20arrived.

Of the four children born to Matthew and Maria,

John baptised 3rd June 1805. He married Elizabeth Jillett on 10th October 1827 in St David s Hobart. He appears to have moved to Victoria (c1839) and thence to own hotels at Robe and Penola in the South East of Australia. He was married again in Geelong November 1844 to Catherine Crough.

Matthew, baptised October 1806 died 15th April 1829, aged 21 and is described as a butcher, in the records

William Henry, born 22nd August 1809 appears to have married twice, first to a Janet Anderson in 1831 and then as a widower to Catherine Clark on 22nd October 1835. They moved to Victoria in March 1842 and began a flour mill in Geelong with a farm at Mt. Duneed. They had 10 children.

Ann Elizabeth was born in 1811 and never married.

The fifth child of Maria s was Thomas, born 12th January 1821. He married Sarah Ann Bradshaw in Hobart 10th October 1851 and they had 5 children. Thomas was accidentally shot 7th September 1862 at Glenorchy.

The surgeon Matthew served in the Kings Own Lancashire Regiment before begin commissioned to come to Port Phillip. Matthew was baptised 13th October 1778 at Houghton-Le-Spring, County of Durham son of John and Elizabeth Bowden - he may well have been a twin with Isabella who was baptised at the same time.

Bowden, Matthew Name: Bowden, Matthew Record Type: Deaths Gender: Male Age: 35 Date of burial: 29 Oct 1814 Registered: Hobart Registration year: 1814 Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1175768

Sources

1. ↑ TAHO death RGD34/1/1 no 167 https://stors.tas.gov.au/RGD34-1-1$init=RGD34-1-1P007
2. ↑ Register type Baptisms, marriages & burials 1763-1783 Archive reference CHU 3/1A/8 Archive Portsmouth History Centre Record set Hampshire, Portsmouth Baptisms © Findmypast https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBPRS%2FPORTSMOUTH%2FBAP%2F00123910
3. ↑ TAHO marriages RGD36/1/1 no 1 https://stors.tas.gov.au/RGD36-1-1$init=RGD36-1-1P1
4. ↑ Tipping M. 1988 'Convicts unbound: The story of the Calcutta convicts and their settlement in Australia' Viking O'Neill, Melbourne p. 118 in James Boyce 2010 'Van Diemen's Land' Black Inc. pp127-128

• "https://www.hobarthistory.com.au/medical-care-in-colonial-hobart-how-bad-was-it/

• "From http://jillettfamily.com/Elizabeth_s_Children_5._Elizabeth_Jillett_&_John_Bodwen.html#:~:text=Surgeon%20Matthew%20Bowden%20arrived%20at%20Port%20Phillip%20with,1803%2C%20four%20days%20before%20the%20%22HMS%20Calcutta%22%20arrived.

• "Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, (MUP), 1966

• "Historical Records of Australia, series 1, vols 7-8, series 3, vols 1-2

• "W. H. Hudspeth, Hudspeth Memorial Volume: An Introduction to the Diaries of the Rev. Robert Knopwood, A.M., and G.T.W.B. Boyes (Hob, 1954).

Citation details

• "Bowden, Matthew (1779-1814)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bowden-matthew-1808/text2059, published first in hardcopy 1966, accessed online 20 December 2020.