P_10433_1880 – Tobias Bowles
Tobias Bowles was a merchant of Deal and London trading with Maryland with several connections to the slave trade. The owner of the voyage of the Samuel from London to the Gold Coast and Vera Cruz in 1720 is given simply as ‘Bowles.’ David Killingray and Nigel Tattersfield both attribute this voyage to Henry Alexander Primrose, the son-in-law of Tobias Bowles of Deal and London.
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First name: Tobias
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Last name: Bowles
Aliases: Bowles
Primary cohort: London
Sex: Male
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Bankruptcies
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Geographic experiences
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Internal migrant: Don't know
Foreign born: Don't know
Supplier to slave trade voyages: Don't know
Creditor to slave trade voyages: Don't know
Philanthropy: Don't know
Plantation owner: Don't know
Sources: https://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Pub/ArchCant/127-2007/06/110.htm. Killlingray also attributes a 1715 voyage identifiable as voyage no. 25724 (reportedly from British Honduras [sic] to Gambia, with no vessel name or port of disembarkation given in TASTDB) to Tobias and George Bowles: this appears to be the same unsuccessful voyage as that recorded in Tattersfield, Forgotten Trade p. 208. Tattersfield, Forgotten Trade pp. 204-8 details the slave-trade related activities of the Bowles family of Deal, linking the family to Nicholas Crispe in the 17th century. PROB 11/616/151, proved 03/07/1727, will of Tobias Bowles merchant of London. History of Parliament, https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1715-1754/member/bowles-william-1686-1748. The entry records his directorship of the South Sea Co. 1724-39 but passes over it without comment in the text.
Other Individuals
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Organisations
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Crossings (2)
76129 - Samuel (1719 - 1720)
Role: Owner
25724
Role: Owner
Birth
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Death
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Burial
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Military training
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Other business activities
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Was slave trading profitable: Don't know
Will
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Courts: PCC
Under the will of Tobias Bowles merchant of London made 17/02/1724 and proved 03/07/1727, he left part of his property in Deal in trust (his trustee was Henry Alexander Primrose) for the benefit of his daughter Mary Underdowne wife of Captain John Underdowne for life, and then to his [the testator's] grandson John Underdowne, to whom also left £1000. He left further property in Deal in a separate trust (for which the trustee was Richard Burbridge of London) for the benefit of his daughter Margaret (wife of Henry Alexander Primrose), to whom he also gave £1000. He had he said already given his daughter Jane £1000 lent by me to Richard Meade on bottomry of a ship called Enfield now on a voyage to the East Indies, and £1000 in bank notes, and ratified those gifts. He left further land in Kent rented out at £90 p.a. to his son James Bowles, and £60 to Thomazin Bowles, daughter of his late brother Phineas, to buy her out of her servitude in Virginia. In a long codicil of 1726 he made his bequest of his house at Dunster Court in London to his son James conditional on James returning from Maryland within two years of Tobias Bowles' date, failing which it was to go to Tobias Bowles' grandson John Underdowne, there to carry on the trade to Maryland. He reduced his legacy to John Underdowne, to £500, having already given him in vivo £1000, increased his legacy to his daughter Jane by £2000 and a further £1000 in lieu of his plate, and left his daughter Margaret property in Deal he had bought of Mr Long together with a new water engine he had erected on it. In a second codicil of 1727 he left his property at Deal (other than that bought from Mr Long) to his son James, together with two ships, the Margaret and the Tobias, and £5000 due from Messrs John Salter & Co. and £1000 from Richard Meade, to balance all accounts with him [James Bowles].
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