Mrs. Bowdich

For the English naturalist and author, see Sarah Bowdich Lee.

Mrs. Bowdich
Cover of the revised second edition of New Vegetarian Dishes (1893)
Born
Evelyne Webb George

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

Evelyne Webb Bowdich[1][note 1] (née George; 22 August 1861 – 22 October 1930), who wrote under the name Mrs. Bowdich, was an English writer. She contributed child-rearing articles to Baby: The Mother's Magazine, later revised and expanded as Confidential Chats with Mothers (1890), which has been cited in later discussions of maternal care. She also authored a vegetarian cookbook, New Vegetarian Dishes (1892), which went through multiple editions and was reviewed in contemporary periodicals; some of its recipes were later reprinted in modern compilations. She 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 as Evelyne Webb George in Bushey on the 22 October 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, which was edited by Ada Ballin, including "The Child with the Perpetual Cold", "Our Seed-Time and Harvest", and pieces in the magazine's "Confidential Chats" series.[10][11][12] She also contributed an article on spoiled children to Every Woman's Encyclopaedia.[3]

Confidential Chats with Mothers (1890)

In 1890, Bowdich published Confidential Chats with Mothers: On the Healthy Rearing of Children, consisting of revised and expanded versions of articles previously published in Baby: The Mother's Magazine.[13] She based her writing on the subject on her personal experiences 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 of the child-care guidance of her day left mothers less trusting of their own judgment. She also objected to the increasing use of paid or informal carers for very young infants, which she described as unnatural. She 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 stated were her own and had been tested by her.[19] The book included recipes for soups, salads, savouries, stews, soufflés 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 particular emphasis on taste and enjoyment, in contrast to earlier vegetarian cookbooks that often advocated a more restrictive diet and limited the variety of foods and seasonings used.[22]

Contemporary notices and reviews appeared in several publications, including The Zoophilist, The Bazaar, Exchange and Mart, and Journal of the Household, and The Saturday Review.[6][23][24] A revised second edition was published in 1893, and it went through at least 12 editions.[25][26]

Patents

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

Animal welfare

Bowdich was a donor to The Animals' Friend Sustentation Fund.[29] She was a member of the Hampstead Society for the Protection of Animals.[30]

Personal life and death

She married auctioneer John Bowdich on 5 September 1882 at the Church of St. Stephen the Martyr, Regent's Park.[2][7] They had one son, Harcourt John (1886–1912).[31][32] Her husband died in 1914.[33]

Bowdich died of stomach cancer in Golders Green, Hendon, on 22 October 1930, at the age of 69.[8][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 the importance of maternal care, citing her 1890 childcare handbook Confidential Chats with Mothers. It quoted her criticism of the practice 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 used Bowdich as a historical point of comparison for debates about "outsourcing" care, before turning to De Kai's argument that AI systems should be "raised" and that design, training, and engagement shape their ethical development.[40]

Publications

  • Confidential Chats with Mothers: On the Healthy Rearing of Children. London: Bailliere, Tindall and Cox. 1890.
  • New Vegetarian Dishes. London: George Bell & Sons. 1892.

Notes

  1. ^ Her first name has been variously spelled as Eveline and Evelyn.[2][3] Her birth record gives her first name as Evelyne.[4] Her surname is sometimes recorded as Bowditch.[5][6] Her surname is given as Bowdich on her marriage and death records.[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. ^ a b c "Bowdich—George". Evening Standard. 11 September 1882. p. 1. Retrieved 15 March 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b Bowdich, Evelyn (1910–1912). "The Spoilt Child". Every Woman's Encyclopaedia. Vol. 2. London. pp. 963–964.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ^ a b c Birth record for Evelyne Webb George, Bushey, 1861{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. ^ "WOMEN AND VICTORIAN VALUES, 1837-1910: Parts 5 to 7". AMP. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  6. ^ a b Gregory, James Richard Thomas Elliott (May 2002). "Biographical Index of British Vegetarians and Food reformers of the Victorian Era". 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.
  7. ^ a b Marriage record for John Bowdich and Evelyne Webb George, Marylebone, 5 September 1882{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. ^ a b Death record for Evelyne Webb George, Hendon, 24 October 1930{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  9. ^ "Births Sep 1861". 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. 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.
  18. ^ Bowdich, Mrs. (February 1891). Ballin, Ada S. (ed.). "Readers of Baby". Baby: The Mother's Magazine. IV (39): 58 – via Google Books.
  19. ^ a b Bowdich, Mrs. (1892). "Preface". New Vegetarian Dishes. Preface by Ernest Bell. London: George Bell & Sons. pp. v–vi – 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.
  21. ^ "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: 144. June 1899.
  30. ^ Bowdich, Evelyne (9 June 1900). "Hampstead Society for the Protection of Animals". Hampstead & Highgate Express. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  31. ^ "Births Mar 1886". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  32. ^ "Deaths Mar 1912". 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". 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): 132–132. doi:10.1126/science.adz3267.

Further reading

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