| 4. | Francis William Monkhouse Bowker was born on 5 May 1914 in Thorn Kloof, Albany, Eastern Cape, South Africa; was christened on 9 Jun 1914 in Grahamstown Cathedral (St Michael and St George), Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa (son of Francis William Monkhouse Bowker and Geraldine Elphinstone Reid); died on 15 Mar 1994 in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Other Events and Attributes:
Notes:
St Andrew's College Register 1855-1959: Page 339
Entry 3656
Francis William Monkhouse BOWKER
Son of no. 581; Left Dec 1931; b. 5.5. 1914; Mullins. Form IV-VI. Cpl. C.C. J.C.1929. Matric. Feb 1931; Farmer; 1st City V.R. 1940; Sgt. 1941; demobilised 1942; College Council 1942; Thornkloof, Carlisle Bridge, C.P. 1950.
BOWKER
Newspaper cuttings from the Eastern Cape.
Source unknown - 1973
BOWKERs
The BOWKERs, who were among several 1820 Settler families in the Eastern Cape, fortunate to be given a land grant in the attractive and sought after Albany district, found their homesteads bitterly besieged during the numerous Kaffir and Frontier wars of the last century.
The homestead at Thorn Kloof, the well-known BOWKER farm in the Grahamstown district, which now belongs to Mr. Francis BOWKER, was destroyed during the War of the Axe in 1846-7. The farmhouse had formed a valuable laager and refuge for other neighbouring members of the BOWKER family during these Kaffir Wars, as it was best suited for protection purposes.
Several other farmhouses, belonging to the BOWKERs, were burnt down in this period. Today there are few BOWKERs left in the Albany district. This large and respected family, with a long line of distinguished personalities, has now scattered to various parts of the Eastern Cape and South Africa. The adventuring lust was evident among the BOWKERs from the early days.They were an independent family.
RUSHES
During the diamond and gold rushes of the second half of the last century, several BOWKERs tried their luck at finding a fortune. Other members of the family, not content to stay still, ventured outside South Africa, some going as far as Kenya to farm and settle. Farming has always been the main occupation of the BOWKERs, and they have been efficient, model farmers. Thorn Kloof is a fine example.
Thorn Kloof also contains a lot of history. Next to the main farmhouse, built in 1935, stand two others built about the middle of the last century - the one being rebuilt on original walls of even earlier date. These old buildings are full of valuable Africana, portraits of BOWKER ancestry, old hunting trophies and relics of peace and war on the frontier.
11 CHILDREN
Other direct descendants of Miles BOWKER, the Wiltshire landowner who led his party of 23 which arrived at Algoa Bay aboard the Weymouth in early 1820, today farm at Schoombee, near Middelburg, and at Cathcart and Bedford. Miles BOWKER had 11 children - nine sons and two daughters.
They and their descendants were to play a key role in the early colony's growth. They made their impression in agriculture, administration, politics, science and war. The present head of the BOWKERs is Mr. Duncan BOWKER, a prominent sheep farmer, of Doornberg, Schoombee. He is a descendant of the eldest son of Miles BOWKER, John Mitford BOWKER, a prominent figure in the Eastern Province before his early death of pneumonia in 1847.
WARS
John Mitford BOWKER worked for the welfare of the Settlers during the Kaffir Wars, when the British Government failed to give adequate assistance. Mr. Duncan BOWKER was named after his grandfather, Duncan CAMPBELL, who made the move from the Albany area to farm near Middelburg. He married a daughter of William Dods PRINGLE of that well-known settler family, and was 94 when he died.
Mr. Francis BOWKER is a descendant of the Hon. William Monkhouse BOWKER, MLA, the second son of Miles BOWKER. William and his younger brother, Miles Brabbin, showed their quick assimilation to a South African way of life - they were young men in their late teens when they made the voyage on the Weymouth - by marrying OOSTHUIZEN sisters, daughters of a friendly Dutch wagoner who transported the BOWKER family to their first farm, 'Oliveburn', which was soon rejected for Tharfield. This is regarded as the original BOWKER homestead in South Africa.
TRADITION
Tharfiled, stepped in tradition, now belongs to Mr. Thomas Guard WEBB, of Bathurst. The house in which the WEBBs stay was built in 1835, and not much has been changed since then, as it was built in stone. The farm is situated in the undulating countryside between the Riet and Kleinemond Rivers, near the coast. The WEBB family acquired it in 1925. It is at Tharfield that Miles BOWKER and his wife are buried. The small cemetery is still there.
Sheep and cattle farmer, Mr. Eric BOWKER, is the head of the Bedford branch of the family. He and his sons farm at Alstonfield. Mr. Eric BOWKER is a descendant of Septimus BOWKER, so-named because he was the seventh son of Miles BOWKER. Septimus was 81 when he died in 1895.
The BOWKERs at Cathcart are closely related to the Thorn Kloof BOWKERs, for they also descend from William Monkhouse BOWKER. His grandson, Meyrick Brabbin BOWKER, inherited the farm Dunskye, at Cathcart in 1913, after the death of his father, Miles Meyrick BOWKER who had previously run the farm.
There are two BOWKER families now owning farms in the Cathcart district. John is the head of Dunskye and Julian of Oakdene. Four of the sons of Miles BOWKER were members of the Cape Parliament. The Hon. Thomas Holden BOWKER, MLA, the forth son of Miles, was probably the most famous. He stood for presidency of the Free State in 1863, but was beaten by Jan BRAND.
Holden was also a commandant during the Kaffir Wars, and the founder of Queenstown. He designed the hexagonal layout of the town as a defence against the Kaffir attacks. BOWKER's Kop in Queenstown is named after him. Holden inherited Tharfield after the death of Miles BOWKER, at the age of 74, in 1838. However, he was not all that interested in farming.
He became known as "Compensation BOWKER" because of his efforts to get compensation for settlers who lost possessions during the Kaffir Wars. More recently this tradition of public life was carried on by the late Mr. Tom BOWKER. MP for Albany from 1936 until his death in 1964, aged 74. His brother is the well-known Grahamstown golfer, Mr. Reg BOWKER, who at 82 still plays every weekend. Mr. Tom BOWKER's son, John, farms at Glen Ovis at Carlisle Bridge. This branch of the family is descended from John Mitford BOWKER.
WITCHDOCTORS
One of the best stories concerning the BOWKERs is that of the lost family silver, which had been missing for 138 years. It was bundled up hastily in a tablecloth, straight off the dinner table when the family fled from the invading Xhosa hordes in the Kaffir War of 1835. Four of the sons of Miles BOWKER buried it in an antbear hole - and never found it again.
Since then, several BOWKERs have enlisted the help of witchdoctors in an effort to trace the spot where the missing silver was buried, but all to no avail. The incident happened when the BOWKERs still farmed at Tharfield. At first the 70-year-old Miles refused to leave, and it was only when his sons threatened to drag him away bodily, tied to a horse, that he reluctantly took refuge in the church at Bathurst along with the other families of the district. Miles BOWKER was the first settler to introduce merino sheep to South Africa from England. However, they were unsuited for the area at Tharfield and were moved to the north in the valley of the Koonap River.
TIES
The Hon. Bertram Egerton BOWKER, MLC, the fifth son of Miles, was the first of the BOWKERs to leave Thurfield and farmed in the Koonap region. He did well and this encouraged several of his brothers to follow his lead. Of Bertram's 12 children, only the youngest son, Gordon Cross BOWKER, carried on the family name and the succeeding generation. However, he emigrated to Kenya.
Other families with close ties with the BOWKERs are the ATHERSTONE and Mitford BARBERTON's from the marriage of Miles BOWKER's two daughters, Anna Maria and Mary Elizabeth. The ATHERSTONEs were a well known Albany family, one of the famous members being Dr. William Guybon ATHERSTONE
who lived in Grahamstown.
The Mitford-BARBERTONs are descended from the BARBER family. Two brothers, Ivan and Raymond who now live at Hout Bay in the Cape were the authors of several historic books on the 1820 Settlers, including the history of the BOWKERs. Many BOWKERs descendants inter-married with other noted Settler families, like PRINGLE,CURRIEs and WHITEs.
Francis married May Anderson Hilton-Barber on 15 Aug 1944. May (daughter of Charles Evelyn Hilton-Barber and Harriet May Anderson) was born on 19 Nov 1919; died on 23 Apr 2006 in Kenton-on-Sea, Eastern Cape, South Africa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
|
Charles Evelyn Hilton-Barber was born on 25 Sep 1879 in Cradock, Eastern Cape, South Africa (son of Hilton Hilton-Barber and Fanny Atherstone); died in 1943. 
