Robert Bowen
Robert Bowen was an Irish student of Theosophy who may have been a personal pupil of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. He is known for the detailed notes about how to read her masterwork The Secret Doctrine.
Personal life
Robert Bowen was born in 1815 at Cleady House, Kenmare, County Kerry, Ireland.[1] One biographer declared that his education was in Jesuit schools.[2] However, his family was not Roman Catholic, but Protestant members of the Church of Ireland, so the Jesuit education seems unlikely.[3]
Robert had to work to support his two elder sisters until they married. It was the usual custom for sons of the landed gentry to enter the Diplomatic Service until they themselves inherited their properties. But a researcher at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office verified he held no position in any capacity with them. Robert's father lived a long life and so Robert did not become the gentleman farmer until later in his own life, not marrying until he was in his fifties.[4]
It has been reported that he engaged in a naval career for some years, possibly serving as a Purser. No record confirms this activity, however, so the title of "Commander" may be inaccurate. Later he returned to Kenmare as a gentleman farmer in his father's footsteps. In 1866 he married Elizabeth Ann Gillman Beamish and they had at least six children, including Patrick Gillman Beamish Bowen.[5] During those years, he engaged in a great deal of reading and writing, as a scholar of the Greek language.[6]
He died at home on March 1, 1908, and was buried two days later in Kenmare.[7]
Involvement in the Theosophical Society
Commander Bowen became interested in Theosophical Society in the early 1880s after meeting Dr. Anna Kingsford.[8][9] Around 1889, he claimed to have become a personal pupil of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and "questioned her persistently about what attitude a student ought to take towards The Secret Doctrine. He made careful notes of the answers she gave him and subsequently read them over to her to make sure that he had not mistaken her meaning." These notes were published in the January-March, 1932, issue of Theosophy in Ireland after Bowen's son, Captain P. G. B. Bowen, a Dublin theosophist, brought them to light.[10] See Robert Bowen Notes.
Note that no record has been found of Robert Bowen as a member of the Theosophical Society or participating in HPB's private Wednesday night classes, although he may have attended public lectures on Thursdays, and may have visited HPB.
In a letter to Dr. Wilks, dated June 1, 1935, P. G. Bowen stated:
I knew nothing of my father as a Theosophist until I came to England eight years ago, in my fiftieth year, and then came into possession of his papers. He had specified that I was not to read these until I had reached the half century.[11]
Another piece of biographical information about his father is found in a letter to Mr. MacKinnon, dated July 22, 1937:
He was, I should mention, close on 70 when I was born [1877]. I did not know much of him in my youth and discovered his occult connections only since leaving Africa and coming into possession of his papers.[12]
Involvement in ceremonial work
Robert's son, Capt. P. G. Bowen, claims that his father was "a member of the 'Club' mentioned by K.H."[13] in Mahatma Letter No. 11, which had been formed "for the practical teaching of magick" around the 1860s. P. G. Bowen continues to say that his father "was a very intimate friend of Anna Kingsford" and adds:
He states definitely that Anna Kingsford, in 1885 (I think) formed an Inner Group in her Hermetic Society, and in it were Wynn Westcott and MacGregor Mathers. There was another member whom my father often mentions as ‘X’, or ‘A-A’ and sometimes as ‘Druid friend X’ or simply ‘The Druid’, and this person it was who brought the ‘Club’ material to A[nna]. K[ingsford]. Westcott and Mathers were given access to it, and later made it the basis of the Golden Dawn rituals.[14]
According to P. G. Bowen, Robert was "connected with the Golden Dawn in the early 90’s" and all this information comes "directly from manuscripts left by my father."
Writings
- "The Ancient Wisdom in Africa", Studies in Comparative Religion 3 no. 2 (Spring, 1969), 96-102.
See also
- Robert Bowen Notes.
- Yvonne Burgess of the Theosophical Society in London has compiled biographical information about the Bowen family, which is available as "Robert Bowen Mystery" at Blavatsky Archives.
- Articles about Robert Bowen and reprints of his notes are listed in the Union Index of Theosophical Periodicals.
Notes
- ↑ 1901 Census of Ireland; Ireland, Burial Index, 1600-1927; and Ireland, Civil Registration Deaths Index, 1864-1958.
- ↑ Yvonne Burgess, Robert Bowen mystery - "The Secret Doctrine and its study" pamphlet by Robert Bowen, at the BlavatskyArchives.com website.
- ↑ xxx email to Janet Kerschner. October 17, 2022. Theosophical Society in America Archives. Mr. xxx is a descendant of Bowen.
- ↑ Yvonne Burgess, Robert Bowen mystery - "The Secret Doctrine and its study" pamphlet by Robert Bowen, at the BlavatskyArchives.com website.
- ↑ Ireland, Select Marriages, 1619-1898 and Ireland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1620-1911.
- ↑ Yvonne Burgess, 3.
- ↑ Ireland, Civil Registration Deaths Index, 1864-1958 and Ireland, Burial Index, 1600-1927.
- ↑ Yvonne Burgess, 3.
- ↑ Membership records for Bowen have not been located.
- ↑ Robert Bowen, "Madame Blavatsky on How to Study Theosophy". It is available online at Theosophical Publishing House.
- ↑ Kenneth Small personal archives.
- ↑ Kenneth Small personal archives.
- ↑ Letter to Mr. MacKinnon (July 22, 1937) preserved at Kenneth R. Small Archive of the Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society at Lomaland, 1874-1960 held in Special Collections University Archives, San Diego State University.
- ↑ Letter to Mr. MacKinnon (July 22, 1937) preserved at Kenneth R. Small Archive of the Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society at Lomaland, 1874-1960 held in Special Collections University Archives, San Diego State University.