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Richard Ryther Steer Bowker was born in
1815 in Lincolnshire, England.
He made several voyages to Australia.
On 23 February 1841 he arrived in Port Phillip as ship's surgeon on immigrant ship
Georgiana.
While on board the 'Georgiana' he kept a journal of his voyage.
Richard Bowker lived in Bolton Street,
Newcastle in the 1840's and was called on at all hours of the night for emergencies. In
November 1843 he was disturbed at ten o'clock at night to attend a man named
Morgan - a 'deformed and exceedingly harmless man' who resided in King Street
and lay dangerously ill after being beaten and stabbed with a bayonet by two from the 99th regiment. When
Dr. Bowker
arrived he found Morgan seriously wounded with the stab being about three inches
depth between the third and fourth
ribs.
He was often required to attend
inquests in Newcastle. In April 1844, Coroner J.S. Parker held an inquest at
Newcastle on the body of 18month old Rebecca Dunn who had supposedly died
through the injudicious medical treatment of a man named
Peter Rosario
At the inquest it was discovered that
the child had been ill for four months and attended by Dr. Bowker who had told
the mother that he entertained no hope of recovery due to her liver complaint.
He recommended oatmeal, arrowroot and beef tea which the child refused. Her
mother then called the assistance of Peter Rozario who ordered the flannels in
which the child was wrapped to be removed. He mixed some aloes in a table spoon
of water with some lump sugar, a teaspoonful of which he gave the child. After
giving this medicine he cut up a white onion which he bruised with half a
teaspoonful of salt and rubbed the child all over, when he prescribed a
teaspoonful of castor oil to be given. He then ordered her to be laid to sleep.
The next day to recommended more castor oil and rubbed the child all over again
with onion and salt and ordered her to be fed with chicken broth boiled with
whole pepper. The mother and child returned to their residence a short distance
from Newcastle five days later. On their next visit to Newcastle the child
became ill again and Peter Rozario was again consulted when he advised that she
had a cold on the stomach and would not live. He again gave the child aloes to
cut the phlegm and chicken broth however she died an hour later.
Richard Bowker and
George Brooks
performed a post mortem on the body and it was found that Bowker's
diagnosis of liver disease was correct. The liver was enlarged to double its
size and contained several abscesses. At the inquest Dr. Bowker stated that
although Rozarios treatment was not directly injurious it was indirectly
so by hindering efficient remedies from being employed. Two men John Barker and
David Robertson spoke in Court in Rozario's favour stating they had received
relief from his treatments, however the jury found that Rebecca Dunn had died by
the visitation of God, and they recommended that Peter Rozario be cautioned by
the coroner from practicing as a quack doctor.
Richard Bowker's attendance at some
inquests must have been merely a formality. He attended the inquest of Thomas
Pender in July 1844. Pender who arrived on the
Bengal Merchant in 1838 was a convict at the stockade employed as a government
stock keeper. He drowned off Throsby's Creek after his boat capsized. Unable to
swim and dressed in a heavy watch cloak he soon disappeared. His body was later
found on the opposite side of the channel.
On a winter's night in 1844 Dr. Bowker
was called out at midnight when the lockup keeper
Thomas Harrison
was viciously assaulted and stabbed by two men. On arrival at the Court House
where Harrison resided he found the stab wound had passed completely through
Harrison's cheek and that he was in a very dangerous state.
In August 1848, he treated Miss
Humphrey, the eldest daughter of
Thomas Bott Humphrey of Newcastle. Her dress
had caught fire and she was seriously burned before a ticket of leave holder
John Brown managed to extinguish the flames. She remained in a dangerous state
under the constant medical treatment of Dr. Bowker for some time.
Richard Bowker worked for some time in the
East Indies however returned to Newcastle and settled in a house overlooking the
harbour and sea. This was possibly situated in Watt Street next to the
California Hotel
established by
Morris Magney . From his house he could no doubt observe any of
his vessels entering and leaving the harbour. He owned five vessels in
partnership with
George Tully by 1853. One of his small
trading vessels was the 'Lavinnia'.
He contributed to the educational
entertainment in the township and in September 1844 gave an introductory
lecture on Chemistry at the Mechanics Institute.
He was highly
regarded by the inhabitants of Newcastle as in 1848 on his return to the
township after a long absence residents contributed to purchase a piece of
plate and fifty sovereigns to thank him for his previous and continuing service
as a doctor
In 1858 he married Lydia Phillips in
Paterson. Lydia was the daughter of Peninsula war veteran
Captain James Phillips.
She had probably grown up on the family estate 'Bona Vista' at Paterson.
(Lydia's older sister Isabella married
David Sloan in 1840.)
Richard later purchased the Bona
Vista property from the Estate. Richard and Lydia soon
started a family - Isabel was born in 1859, Robert in 1861, Elizabeth in 1862,
Charles in 1864, Richard in 1867, Arthur 1869, Harold 1870, Edward 1872 were all
born in Newcastle. Cedric was born in 1876 in Paddington, Sydney and a year
later Richard was elected member for Newcastle in the Legislative Assembly. Lydia died in Paddington in 1878. Richard lived until 1903.
For more information see
Linley and John Hooper's family history page
Australian Pioneer Medical Index
Australian Dictionary of Biography Online
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