Introduction

Biography

Bowdler was the son of John Bowd­ler the El­der (1746–1823).

He was edu­cat­ed at Win­ches­ter, and in 1798 joined a Lon­don so­li­ci­tor’s of­fice.

He was called to the bar at Lin­coln’s Inn in 1807, made some pro­gress in his pro­fess­ion, and at­tract­ed the no­tice of Lord-Chan­cel­lor El­don. In 1810 signs of tu­ber­cu­lo­sis ap­peared, so he spent the next two years in south­ern Eur­ope.

In May 1812 he re­turned to Eng­land and lived with an aunt near Ports­mouth. His health did not im­prove, though, and he died three years lat­er.

Works

• Select Piec­es in Prose and Verse, two vol­umes pub­lished post­hu­mous­ly by his fa­ther (Lon­don: G. Da­vid­son, 1816). Ex­pand­ed and re­pub­lished by his bro­ther Charles as The Re­li­gion of the Heart, 1857