Robert Bowes

Robert Bowes (born 22 August 1835, near Stewarton, Ayrshire, Scotland – died 9 February 1919, Park Terrace, Cambridge. England) was a Scottish bookseller and publisher. He is known for A Catalogue of Books Printed at or relating to the University, Town & County of Cambridge, from 1521 to 1893 : with Bibliographical and Biographical Notes 1891–1894 (praised by David McKitterick as "monumental and still unsuperseded"). Biography Robert Bowes's mother was born Margaret Macmillan, an older sister of Daniel and Alexander Macmillan, the founders of Macmillan Publishers. At an early age Robert Bowes was sent to Cambridge, England to work in his uncles' business, which consisted of "bookselling, publishing, printing, and the supply of stationery". In 1851 Bowes was an apprentice living in Cambridge with his uncle Alexander in the bookshop at 1 Trinity Street, where books had been sold since 1581. In its early years, the Macmillan business consisted mainly of academic books, with a few works of fiction — one major success was publication in 1855 of Charles Kingsley's Westward Ho! and another was publication in 1857 of Thomas Hughes's Tom Brown's School Days. In 1858 Bowes, his uncle Daniel having died in 1857, was sent by his uncle Alexander to London to take charge of the company's newly founded branch at 23 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden. By 1863 Alexander Macmillan moved to London, whilst Robert Bowes returned moved back to Cambridge to work at the Trinity Street bookshop. In April 1868 Bowes married Fanny Brimley (1831–1903), younger sister of Alexander Macmillan’s wife, Caroline. Fanny and Caroline were sisters of the essayist and literary critic George Brimley. Robert and Fanny Bowes had two daughters, Mabel Ethel (1869–1957) and Janet Mabel (1871–1944), and a son George Edmund (1874–1946).