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{{EngvarB|date=November 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Sir Hamilton Bower
|image=Hamilton Bower.jpg
|caption=Sir Hamilton Bower
|rank=[[Major General]]
|branch={{army|British India|23px}}
|commands=Dehra Ismail Khan Brigade<br/>Assam Brigade
|unit=
|battles=
|awards= [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath]]
|family=
|nickname=
|allegiance= {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} [[United Kingdom]]
|birth_date=1 September 1858<ref name="who">''Who was Who''</ref>
|death_date={{d-da|5 March 1940|1 September 1858}}
|birth_place=[[Portsea Island]], [[Hampshire]], England
|death_place= [[North Berwick]], [[East Lothian]], Scotland<ref>''England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858–1995''</ref>
|placeofburial=
|serviceyears=
|other work=
}}
[[File:The grave of Major General Hamilton Bower, Dean Cemetery.jpg|thumb|The grave of Major General Hamilton Bower, Dean Cemetery]]

[[Major-General]] '''Sir Hamilton St Clair Bower''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|KCB|DL}} (1 September 1858 – 5 March 1940) was a [[British Indian Army]] officer who wrote about his travels through [[Xinjiang]] and [[Tibet]].

==Private life==

Bower was born on [[Portsea Island]], [[Hampshire]],<ref>''1861 England Census''</ref> the son of a Scottish father Admiral James Paterson Bower (1806–1889) of Inverarity, Forfarshire, and an Irish mother, Barbara Hickson.<ref>''1851 England Census''</ref> He was educated at [[Edinburgh Collegiate School]] and the [[Royal Naval School]], New Cross. His father had retired to 4 Moredun Crescent in Edinburgh.<ref>''Edinburgh Post Office Directory'' 1880</ref>

Originally commissioned into the Duke of Edinburgh's Own Artillery [[Militia (United Kingdom)|Militia]], he was appointed a Second Lieutenant in the [[Devonshire Regiment]] 23 October 1880.<ref>London Gazette 22 October 1880</ref> He was appointed to the [[Indian Staff Corps]] 2 February 1884<ref>London Gazette 3 June 1884</ref><ref>London Gazette 3 November 1885</ref> and posted to the [[17th Cavalry]] 15 September 1885.<ref name="Crescent 1922. page 287">''The Star and Crescent. Being the story of the 17th Cavalry from 1858 to 1922''. page 287</ref>

He is buried with his parents in [[Dean Cemetery]] in [[Edinburgh]]. The grave lies in the first north extension close to the main east–west path.

==Personal life==

He married firstly, Mary Sherrard in [[Simla]], India in 1894.<ref>''India, Select Marriages, 1792-1948''</ref> He married secondly, Maud Edith Ainslie in [[Shanghai]] in 1889. He had three daughters.<ref>''UK, Foreign and Overseas Registers of British Subjects, 1628-1969''</ref><ref name="who"/>

==Sanskrit medical manuscript==
In 1889-1890 Lieutenant Hamilton Bower travelled through Chinese Turkestan, where in the city of [[Kucha]] he purchased a [[Sanskrit]]-language [[manuscript]] written in the [[Brāhmī script|Brahmi alphabet]].<ref name=greenblatt>Ray H. Greenblatt. [http://www.chilit.org/GRENBLT2.HTM The Vanishing Trove: Reviled Heroes; Revered Thieves]. The Chicago Literary Club. 2 October 2000 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511213319/http://www.chilit.org/GRENBLT2.HTM |date=11 May 2008 }}</ref> The medical manuscript, which later became known as the ''[[Bower Manuscript]]'', sent a shock-wave through the world of Indian scholarship, especially [[Indology]], pointing to the existence of a forgotten [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] civilization in Chinese Turkestan.<ref>[[Peter Hopkirk]], ''Foreign Devils on the Silk Road: The Search for the Lost Cities and Treasures of Chinese Central Asia'', 1980, p.44-45</ref>

During his time in Turkestan, Bower, who was then a British intelligence officer on a Government mission, attempted to track down the killer of [[Andrew Dalgleish (spy)|Andrew Dalgleish]], a Scottish trader murdered on the road from [[Leh]] to [[Yarkant County|Yarkand]] in 1888.<ref name=bowergj>Hamilton Bower. [https://books.google.com/books?id=yWoMAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA240&dq=A+trip+to+Turkistan.+bower+Geographical+Journal+1895&cd=1#v=onepage&q&f=false "A trip to Turkistan"]. ''[[Geographical Journal]]''. 1895. p.241-257</ref>

In the 1890s Bower travelled to Tibet and wrote a memoir of his experiences entitled ''Diary of a Journey across Tibet''. In 1894 he received the [[Royal Geographical Society]]'s [[Founder's Medal]] "for his remarkable journey across Tibet, from west to east".<ref name=nature>[https://books.google.com/books?id=BkoCBFtLx7AC&pg=PA604&lpg=PA604&dq=%22For+his+remarkable+journey+across+Tibet,+from+west+to+east%22&source=bl&ots=vrm7NGtX-2&sig=omb8jCnDf0sXD65uLtKkiNtvYTE&hl=en&ei=JlcITIyBI4esMuzL2bUE&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22For%20his%20remarkable%20journey%20across%20Tibet%2C%20from%20west%20to%20east%22&f=false ''Nature''], Volume 49 (1894)</ref>

==Later military career==
Bower served as D.A.Q.M.G (Intelligence) from 18 April 1893 to 4 May 1895.<ref name="Crescent 1922. page 287"/> He served in the [[Dongola Expedition]] 1896 as D.A.Q.M.G (Intelligence) and was rewarded with a [[Brevet (military)|Brevet]] of Major.<ref name="January 1908 Indian Army List">January 1908 Indian Army List</ref>

He raised and commanded the [[1st Chinese Regiment]] at [[Wei-hei-Wei]] in 1898,<ref name="Crescent 1922. page 287"/> and was in China during the [[Boxer Rebellion]] in 1900, where he was in command of the regiment as they took part in the relief of Tientsin and the relief of Peking. After the end of hostilities, he was from 21 July to 30 November 1901 the delegate of the British military commander (Major-General [[O'Moore Creagh]]) on the provisional government.<ref name=LG27497>{{London Gazette |issue=27497 |date=21 November 1902 |page=7532}}</ref> For his services during the rebellion, he was [[mentioned in dispatches]] (by Maj.-General Creagh)<ref name=LG27497 /> and received the brevet rank of [[Lieutenant colonel (British Army and Royal Marines)|lieutenant-colonel]].<ref name="Crescent 1922. page 287"/>

He was appointed Commander of the Legation Guard in Peking on 1 December 1901, and served as such until 24 November 1906.<ref name="Crescent 1922. page 287"/> Appointed Brevet Colonel 10 February 1904. Appointed Squadron Commander, 17th Cavalry 15 October 1906,<ref name="January 1908 Indian Army List"/> promoted Lieutenant-Colonel 23 October 1906. In January 1908 he was the second in command of the 17th Cavalry.<ref name="January 1908 Indian Army List"/>

Promoted Colonel 1 December 1908 and temporary Brigadier-general commanding the Dehra Ismail Khan Brigade<ref name="Crescent 1922. page 287"/> and subsequently the Assam Brigade.
Promoted Major-General 15 February 1909 and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath [[Companion of The Most Honourable Order of the Bath|CB]] in October 1910.<ref>London Gazette 24 October 1910</ref>

He was the General Officer Commanding for the [[Abor Campaign 1911-12|Abor Expedition]] and was rewarded with promotion to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath|KCB]].<ref>London Gazette 23 August 1912</ref>

He retired a Major General on 30 January 1914.

He was appointed temporary Lieutenant-Colonel and commandant of the Haddington Volunteer Regiment 1 September 1916.<ref>London Gazette 1 September 1916</ref> He relinquished his commission on 26 February 1920 and was granted the honorary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.<ref>London Gazette 2 March 1920</ref>

==List of publications==
* ''Some notes on Tibetan affairs''. [[Calcutta]]: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India, 1893.
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=c3dCAAAAIAAJ Diary of a journey across Tibet]''. [[London]]: [[Rivington (publishers)|Rivington, Percival and Co.]], 1894.
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=UQTPAAAAMAA The Bower Manuscript : facsimile leaves, Nagari transcript, romanised transliteration and English trans. with notes]{{dead link|date=March 2013}}. Calcutta : Off. of the Superintendent of Govt. Printing, 1894. co-authored with [[A. F. Rudolf Hoernle]]
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=yWoMAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA240&dq=A+trip+to+Turkistan.+bower+Geographical+Journal+1895&cd=1#v=onepage&q&f=false "A trip to Turkistan"]. ''[[Geographical Journal]]''. 1895. 241-257
* "The Abor Expedition: Geographical Results: Discussion". ''Geographical Journal'', Feb., 1913, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 109–114. co-authored with L. A. Bethell and [[Thomas Holdich]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Commonscatinline}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bower, Hamilton}}
[[Category:1858 births]]
[[Category:1940 deaths]]
[[Category:Burials at the Dean Cemetery]]
[[Category:People from Portsea, Portsmouth]]
[[Category:British people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:British people of Irish descent]]
[[Category:English explorers]]
[[Category:English travel writers]]
[[Category:Explorers of Central Asia]]
[[Category:British Indian Army generals]]
[[Category:British Indian Army officers]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Deputy Lieutenants of East Lothian]]
[[Category:British Weihaiwei people]]
[[Category:People educated at Edinburgh Collegiate School]]
[[Category:People educated at the Royal Naval School]]
[[Category:Recipients of the MacGregor Medal]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Portsmouth]]

Hamilton Bower - Revision history

Bot at 12:21, 27 November 2022