Major Rowland Francis Bowen (27 February 1916 – 4 September 1978) was a British Army officer and a cricket researcher, historian and writer.
Educated at Westminster School, Bowen received an emergency commission in April 1942 into the Indian Army.[1] He spent many years in Egypt, Sudan and India before returning to England in 1951 and joining the Royal Engineers as a captain, working at the War Office and ultimately being promoted to the rank of major.[2] He later worked for the Joint Intelligence Bureau, part of Britain's military intelligence establishment.[3]
He became involved in cricket research and history in 1958 and, in 1963, he founded the magazine The Cricket Quarterly which ran until 1970.[2] He is best known for his book Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development throughout the World (1970)[4] which has been described as "indispensable" but also as "spikily controversial and vigorously wide-ranging".[5] In John Arlott's review of the book for Wisden, he commented that it was "unique in my experience as a major work on cricket written from a wide view, in disapproval of the game's establishment and in expectation of the demise of the first-class game".[6]
An eccentric and difficult man – "Bowen never made an influential friend he couldn’t turn into an avowed adversary"[3] – Bowen amputated his perfectly healthy right leg below the knee in September 1968.[3]
In 1974 he married a widow, Anne Valerie Jodelko, who had two visually-impaired sons. He died four years later, at Buckfastleigh, Devon, aged 62.[3]
^London Gazette 3 July 1942
^ abThe Cricketer 1978 – obituary.
^ abcdJackson, Russell (22 July 2017). "Cricket Historian, Writer, Surgeon, Spy: The Mad World of Major Rowland Bowen". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
^Rowland Bowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970
^Eric Midwinter, W G Grace: His Life and Times, George Allen and Unwin, 1981.
Major Rowland Francis Bowen (27 February 1916 – 4 September 1978) was a British Army officer and a cricket researcher, historian and writer. Educated...
Commander Rowland Griffiths Bowen, OBE (14 January 1879 – 21 October 1965) was a Royal Australian Navy officer who saw active service during the First...
records few cases of self-amputation apart from that of cricket historian RowlandBowen, who self-amputated one of his legs below the knee in 1968. To the extent...
2008. Middle Dutch was the language in use in Flanders at the time. RowlandBowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode...
counties, they were not the club teams the usage would imply today. RowlandBowen states in his history that the earliest usage of the term "County Championship"...
tally sticks, and runs were originally called notches. According to RowlandBowen, the earliest known scorecard templates were introduced in 1776 by T...
Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 20 December 2021. RowlandBowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode...
until 2005 but is not classified as a List A team per se. According to RowlandBowen in his Growth and Development of Cricket, the first reference to cricket...
Race (theboatrace.org). Archived 2010-03-17. Retrieved 2013-05-10. RowlandBowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode...
non-cricketing reasons. Stuart Cummings (MBE): ex-Rugby League referee RowlandBowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode...
region are in 1827 (Westmorland) and 1828 (Cumberland). According to RowlandBowen's research, there was reportedly an informal county club in Westmorland...
William BowenRowlands (1837 – 4 September 1906), was a British politician and Member of Parliament. He was educated at Jesus College, Oxford, matriculating...
1962 Derek Birley, A Social History of English Cricket, Aurum, 1999 RowlandBowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode...
1962 Derek Birley, A Social History of English Cricket, Aurum, 1999 RowlandBowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode...
1926. Derek Birley, A Social History of English Cricket, Aurum, 1999. RowlandBowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode...
sanctions imposed by the Puritans on sports were also lifted. According to RowlandBowen, "it is likely that the Restoration was the crucial factor in leading...
1962. Derek Birley, A Social History of English Cricket, Aurum, 1999. RowlandBowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode...
2016. Derek Birley, A Social History of English Cricket, Aurum, 1999 RowlandBowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode...
1962 Derek Birley, A Social History of English Cricket, Aurum, 1999 RowlandBowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode...
1962 Derek Birley, A Social History of English Cricket, Aurum, 1999 RowlandBowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode...
first reference to cricket, in "criquet", as discovered in France by RowlandBowen in the 20th century. It has been dismissed by some (most notably John...
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