Mrs. Bowdich

Mrs. Bowdich
Revised second edition cover of New Vegetarian Dishes (1893)
Born
Evelyne Webb George

(1861-08-22)22 August 1861
Bushey, England
Died22 October 1930(1930-10-22) (aged 69)
Golders Green, Hendon, England
Resting place
Highgate Cemetery
OccupationWriter
Spouse
John Bowdich
​
​
(m. 1882; died 1914)​
Children1
Writing career
LanguageEnglish
Period1890–1893
Subjects
Notable works
  • Confidential Chats with Mothers (1890)
  • New Vegetarian Dishes (1892)
Signature

Evelyne Webb Bowdich[1][a] (née George; 22 August 1861 – 22 October 1930), who wrote under the name Mrs. Bowdich, was an English writer on child rearing and vegetarian cookery. She contributed articles to Baby: The Mother's Magazine, several of which were revised and expanded for her book Confidential Chats with Mothers (1890). She also wrote the cookbook New Vegetarian Dishes (1892), which went through multiple editions. Bowdich filed patents in 1890 and 1914 for devices intended to prevent drips from siphons, and she supported animal welfare causes.

Biography

Early life

Bowdich was born Evelyne Webb George in Bushey on 22 August 1861.[4][9] She was the youngest daughter of Richard George, a dance teacher, and Augusta Mary George (née Newman).[2][4]

Writing

Child-rearing articles

Bowdich wrote articles on child rearing for Baby: The Mother's Magazine, edited by Ada Ballin. Her contributions included "The Child with the Perpetual Cold", "Our Seed-Time and Harvest", and pieces in the magazine's "Confidential Chats" series.[10][11][12] She later contributed an article on spoiled children to Every Woman's Encyclopaedia.[3]

Confidential Chats with Mothers (1890)

Advertisement for Confidential Chats with Mothers (1890)

In 1890, Bowdich published Confidential Chats with Mothers: On the Healthy Rearing of Children, a book based on revised and expanded articles from Baby: The Mother's Magazine.[13] She wrote that her advice was drawn from experience as a mother:[14]

[T]here are already many highly useful and well-known works treating of maternity and its responsibilities; but they are mostly written by medical men, who, although giving most excellent advice, are obliged in a great measure to speak theoretically. I am therefore emboldened to offer some useful hints from my own experience.

Bowdich argued that some contemporary child-care advice made mothers less willing to trust their own judgment. She objected to the use of paid or informal carers for very young infants, describing the practice as unnatural, and maintained that babies needed their mothers' affection and close physical care.[15]

The book received a positive notice in the Evening Sentinel.[16] In The Bookseller, a short notice described Bowdich's remarks as "shrewdly sensible and practical".[17] In 1891, Baby: The Mother's Magazine reported that a copy had been well received by Queen Victoria.[18]

New Vegetarian Dishes (1892)

Bowdich published New Vegetarian Dishes in 1892. It contained 221 recipes, 200 of which she said were her own and had been tested by her.[19] The book included recipes for soups, salads, savouries, stews, souffles and sauces.[20] The preface was written by Ernest Bell and the cover was designed by Gleeson White.[19][21]

According to Cedar Philips, New Vegetarian Dishes placed more emphasis on taste and enjoyment than earlier vegetarian cookbooks, which often advocated a more restrictive diet and used fewer seasonings.[22]

Contemporary notices and reviews appeared in publications including The Zoophilist, The Bazaar, Exchange and Mart, and Journal of the Household, and The Saturday Review.[8][23][24] A revised second edition was published in 1893, and the book went through at least 12 editions.[25][26]

Patents

Patent entry for Bowdich's "drop receiver" (1890)

Bowdich filed two patents: one in 1890 for a "drop receiver", designed to catch drops falling from the spouts of mineral water and other syphons after use, and another in 1914 for a "drip arrester".[27][28]

Animal welfare

In 1899, Bowdich was a donor to The Animals' Friend Sustentation Fund.[29] The following year, she wrote a letter to the editor of the Hampstead & Highgate Express, appealing for funds for the Hampstead Society for the Protection of Animals.[30]

Personal life and death

Bowdich married the auctioneer John Bowdich on 5 September 1882 at the Church of St Stephen the Martyr, Regent's Park.[2][6] They had one son, Harcourt John (1886–1912).[31][32] Her husband died in 1914 and was buried at Highgate Cemetery.[33]

Bowdich died of stomach cancer in Golders Green, Hendon, on 22 October 1930, aged 69.[5][34] She was buried at Highgate Cemetery the following day.[35]

Legacy

New Vegetarian Dishes is held by the NC State University Libraries as part of the Bernard Unti Book and Ephemera Collection on Animal Studies.[36] Selected recipes by Bowdich were reprinted in Anne O'Connell's Early Vegetarian Recipes (2009) and Mark Thompson's Vintage Vegetarian Cuisine.[37][38]

In Are Mothers Really Necessary? (1987), Bob Mullan described Bowdich as a precursor to John Bowlby's views on maternal care, citing Confidential Chats with Mothers. He quoted her criticism of placing infants in the care of strangers soon after birth and her argument that young babies needed a mother's "instinctive love" and physical care.[39]

In a 2025 review essay in Science of De Kai's Raising AI, Adrian Woolfson referred to Bowdich while discussing arguments about delegated care and De Kai's view that AI systems should be "raised" through design, training, and engagement.[40]

Publications

Articles

  • Ballin, Ada S., ed. (1890). "The Child with the Perpetual Cold". Baby: The Mother's Magazine. 4 (37): 5–7.
  • Ballin, Ada S., ed. (February 1891). "Our Seed-Time and Harvest". Baby: The Mother's Magazine. 4 (39): 78–79.
  • "The Spoilt Child". Every Woman's Encyclopaedia. Vol. 2. London. 1910–1912. pp. 963–964.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Books

Notes

  1. ↑ Her first name is also recorded as Eveline and Evelyn.[2][3] Her birth and death records give her first name as Evelyne.[4][5] While her surname is given as Bowdich on her marriage and death records,[6][5] it is sometimes recorded as Bowditch.[7][8]

References

  1. ↑ "The Home". Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper. 13 July 1890. p. 10. Retrieved 12 June 2025 – via Newspapers.com. 'Confidential Chats with Mothers on the Healthy Rearing of Children' is the name of a serviceable handbook for the household. It is carefully written by Mrs. Evelyne Webb Bowdich, and abounds with useful hints of great value to young mothers.
  2. 1 2 3 "Bowdich-George". Evening Standard. 11 September 1882. p. 1. Retrieved 15 March 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. 1 2 Bowdich, Evelyn (1910–1912). "The Spoilt Child". Every Woman's Encyclopaedia. Vol. 2. London. pp. 963–964 – via Internet Archive.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. 1 2 3 Birth record for Evelyne Webb George, Bushey, 1861{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. 1 2 3 Death record for Evelyne Webb George, Hendon, 24 October 1930{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. 1 2 Marriage record for John Bowdich and Evelyne Webb George, Marylebone, 5 September 1882{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. ↑ Wilson, C. Anne. "Women and Victorian Values, 1837-1910: Parts 5 to 7". Adam Matthew Digital. Archived from the original on 20 May 2025. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  8. 1 2 Gregory, James Richard Thomas Elliott (May 2002). "Biographical Index of British Vegetarians and Food reformers of the Victorian Era" (PDF). The Vegetarian Movement in Britain c.1840–1901: A Study of Its Development, Personnel and Wider Connections (PDF) (PhD thesis). Vol. 2. University of Southampton. p. 17. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  9. ↑ "Births Sep 1861: George, Evelyne Webb". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  10. ↑ Bowdich, Mrs. (1890). Ballin, Ada S. (ed.). "The Child with the Perpetual Cold". Baby: The Mother's Magazine. 4 (37): 5–7 – via Google Books.
  11. ↑ Bowdich, Mrs. (February 1891). Ballin, Ada S. (ed.). "Our Seed-Time and Harvest". Baby: The Mother's Magazine. 4 (39): 78–79 – via Google Books.
  12. ↑ Mater (April 1891). Ballin, Ada S. (ed.). "Answers to Correspondence". Baby: The Mother's Magazine. IV (41): 139 – via Google Books.
  13. ↑ "Confidential chats with mothers on the healthy rearing of children". WorldCat. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  14. ↑ Wagner, Tamara S. (2020). The Victorian Baby in Print: Infancy, Infant Care, and Nineteenth-century Popular Culture. Oxford University Press. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-19-885801-0 – via Google Books.
  15. ↑ Patel, Claire (31 March 2017). "Rolling back the Years: And so to the Seventies". La Leche League GB. Archived from the original on 21 July 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  16. ↑ Penelope (19 July 1890). "Our Ladies' Column". Evening Sentinel. p. 7. Retrieved 13 March 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ "Short Notices". Bookseller and the Stationery Trades' Journal. London: J. Whitaker and Sons. 1890. p. 809 – via Google Books.
  18. ↑ Bowdich, Mrs. (February 1891). Ballin, Ada S. (ed.). "Readers of Baby". Baby: The Mother's Magazine. IV (39): 58 – via Google Books.
  19. 1 2 Bowdich, Mrs. (1892). "Preface". New Vegetarian Dishes. Preface by Ernest Bell. London: George Bell & Sons. pp. v–vi. hdl:2027/hvd.rsmcw3 – via HathiTrust.
  20. ↑ "A Complete Catalogue of Works Published by George Bell & Sons". The Reference Catalogue of Current Literature. London: J. Whitaker. 1894. p. 16 – via Google Books.
  21. ↑ Cooke, Simon (29 February 2020). "Art Nouveau Bindings: Designers, Styles, Influences, and Publishers". The Victorian Web. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  22. ↑ Philips, Cedar (16 September 2010). "Cookbooks". In Puskar-Pasewicz, Margaret (ed.). Cultural Encyclopedia of Vegetarianism. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 979-8-216-06916-4 – via Google Books.
  23. ↑ "New Vegetarian Dishes". Bazaar Exchange and Mart, and Journal of the Household. Vol. 48. London: L. Upcott Gill. 1893. p. 590 – via Google Books.
  24. ↑ "New Books and Reprints". The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science, Art, and Finance. Vol. 75. London: Saturday Review. 1893. p. 308 – via Google Books.
  25. ↑ Bowdich, Mrs. (1893). New Vegetarian Dishes (2nd; revised ed.). London: George Bell & Sons – via Internet Archive.
  26. ↑ "New vegetarian dishes". WorldCat. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  27. ↑ "Applications for Patents". The Illustrated Official Journal (Patents) (53): 4. 8 January 1890 – via Google Books.
  28. ↑ "Applications for Patents". The Illustrated Official Journal (Patents). 26. 1914 – via Google Books.
  29. ↑ "Our Sustentation Fund". The Animals' Friend. 5–6: 144. June 1899 – via Google Books.
  30. ↑ Bowdich, Evelyne (9 June 1900). "Hampstead Society for the Protection of Animals". Hampstead & Highgate Express. p. 6 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  31. ↑ "Births Mar 1886: Bowdich, Harcourt John". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  32. ↑ "Deaths Mar 1912: Bowdich, Harcourt J." FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  33. ↑ "Bowdich". The Times. 8 September 1914. p. 1. Retrieved 15 March 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  34. ↑ "Deaths Dec 1930: Bowdich, Evelyne W." FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  35. ↑ "Evelyn Webb Bowditch". Burial Ground Management System. Retrieved 14 December 2025.
  36. ↑ "Bernard Unti Book and Ephemera Collection on Animal Studies, 1761, 1802-2023". NC State University Libraries. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  37. ↑ O'Connell, Anne (2008). Early Vegetarian Recipes. Totnes: Prospect Books. p. 219. ISBN 978-1-903018-58-3 – via Internet Archive.
  38. ↑ Thompson, Mark (10 December 2014). Vintage Vegetarian Cuisine: Early Advocates of a Vegetable Diet and Some of Their Recipes, from 1699 To 1935. Philadelphia: Seasonal Chef Press. ISBN 978-0-9795510-9-3.
  39. ↑ Mullan, Bob (1987). Are Mothers Really Necessary?. London: Boxtree. pp. 5–6. ISBN 978-1-85283-200-1.
  40. ↑ Woolfson, Adrian (10 July 2025). "Following in our footsteps". Science. 389 (6756): 132. doi:10.1126/science.adz3267.

Further reading

  • Wikimedia Commons logo Media related to Mrs. Bowdich at Wikimedia Commons
  • Works by Mrs. Bowdich at Project Gutenberg
  • New Vegetarian Dishes (web version)
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