Bowles, John Sharpe

Bowles, John Sharpe an English Congregational minister, was born in Norwich, July 3, 1801. He was trained in the ways of piety and truth, was converted when quite young, and began preaching when about twenty years of age. In 1838 he was appointed city missionary by the Norwich City Mission Committee. Six hours per day, for five days in the week, during seventeen years, he was employed in visiting from house to house, distributing tracts, reading and praying with the people, holding prayer-meetings, and preaching in cottages and school-rooms in a parish that was the haunt of thieves, prostitutes, beggars, and gypsies. Mr. Bowles removed to Hingham in 1855, and became pastor of the Independent Church in that town. Thence he went to Sutton, Herefordshire, and thence, in 1862, to Market Lavington, Wiltshire, where he died, Feb. 13, 1864. Mr. Bowles excelled as a pastor. His kindness of heart peculiarly fitted him for this work. See (Lond.) Cong. Year-book, 1865, p. 226.