BOWREY (Bowry), Thomas. Wapping, London 7.9.1659 — Kent (?) 1?.7.1713. British Sea Captain in the East. Lost his father in the plague epidemic of 1665. Came alone to Madras as a child of 7 after the 1666 great fire of London. In India and South-East Asia in as sailing master, then captain, until 1688, then returned to England. If the Hudson Bay Dictionary is by him, he must have been also in Canada. Married 1691 his cousin Mary Gardiner and settled in Wapping, London, but details of his later life are scarce, although his will is preserved. He kept his interest in the East and owned shares of ships. His book, a description of India and South-East Asia, remained long time in manuscript and was only published in 1905.
Publications: Dictionary, English and Malayo, Malayo and English. 248 p. L. 1701; A Dictionary of the Hudson Bay Language. L. 1701 (a specimen of 7 pages).
– A Geographical Account of Countries Round the Bay of Bengal 1669 to 1679. Ed. by R. C. Temple. 56+378 p. Hakluyt Soc. 2nd Series 12. L.1905.
– The papers of Thomas Bowrey, 1669-1713. Ed. by R. C. Temple. 398 p. Hakluyt Soc. 1927.
Sources: *S. Paul, Jeopardy of Every Wind. The Biography of Captain Th.B. 2020; Temple’s introduction 1905; two brief notes in Br. Biogr. Arch.; Wikipedia.
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