British gardener employed at the Royal Gardens, Kew (1810-1820) who became one of the Kew collectors on the recommendation of Joseph Banks. He travelled to Brazil where he worked for two years with another Kew collector, Alan Cunningham, and later visited the Cape region of South Africa. Bowie introduced species of Streptocarpus, Gladiolus and many orchids into cultivation in Europe. His employment with Kew was terminated when the collecting budget was halved, though the decision may also have been influenced by his alleged riotous life style while in the field. Bowie returned to South Africa where he collected plants for horticulture on a consignment basis and was superintendent of Ludwig's garden. Though he was employed at Kew, the herbarium there was not formed until 1841 and all of the early original Bowie material in the Banks herbarium was later deposited at BM (1827).