Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bowes, Martin
BOWES, Sir MARTIN (1500?–1566), lord mayor of London and sub-treasurer of the Mint, was son and heir of Thomas Bowes of York. Early in life he became a wellknown jeweller and goldsmith in London, and had large transactions with the Mint. In 1530 he acted as deputy for Robert Amadas, deputy of Lord Mountjoy, 'keeper of the exchange,' and in April 1533 received a grant of the office of master and worker of the king's moneys, and keeper of the change in the Tower of London with his friend Ralph Rowlet 'in survivorship.' Strype states that in January 1550-1 he surrendered the post of sub-treasurer of the Mint, and was found to be 10,000l. in debt to the king. But the government were well enough satisfied with 'his honest and faithful managery of his place 'to grant him an annuity of 200 marks in addition to the pension of 66l. 13s. 4d. already granted him by Henry VIII. He was an alderman of the city, and was elected sheriff of London in 1540 and lord mayor in 1545. In June 1546 he examined the reputed heretic Anne Askew [q. v.] in the Guildhall, and committed her to the Counter (Narratives of the Reformation, Camd. Soc. pp. 40-1). He was a liveryman of the Goldsmiths' Company, and was a constant guest at the feasts of the other city companies, and a generous benefactor to his own company. He bequeathed to the latter the houses in Lombard Street where Messrs. Glyn's banking-house now stands.
Bowes died on 4 Aug. 1566, and was buried in the church of St. Mary Woolnoth, Lombard Street, beneath 'a goodly marble close tombe under the communion table.' By his will dated 20 Sept. 1562 he left lands to discharge the ward of Langbourne 'of all fiftenes to bee granted to the king by parliament,' and founded almshouses at Woolwich, where he had a house and lands. He established a yearly sermon on St. Martin's day at the church of St. Mary Woolnoth. A broadsheet entitled 'The epethaphe of syr Marten Bowes' was licensed for the press soon after his death, but no copy is known (Arber's Transcript, i.)
Bowes was thrice married: (1) to Cicely Elyot; (2) to one Anne, who, dying on 19 Oct. 1553, was buried with heraldic ceremony (22 Oct.) at St. Mary Woolnoth, Lombard Street (Harl. MS. 897 f. 13 b; Machyn's Diary, Camd. Soc. pp. 46, 335); and (3) to Elizabeth Harlow. By his first wife Bowes had two sons, Thomas and Martin. Joanna, a daughter of Bowes, married George Heton of Heton, Lancashire, and was mother of Martin Heton, bishop of Ely (Strype, Annals, 8vo, iv. 490).
A contemporary portrait of Bowes ('a° 1566 æt. suæ 66') still hangs in the committee-room of Goldsmiths' Hall, and a cup presented by him to the same company is still extant, and has been engraved in H. Shaw's 'Decorative Arts.'
[Visitations of Essex, pub. by Harl. Soc. xiii. 27; Redpath's Border History; Surtees's Hist. of Durham, i. 236, iv. 117; Stow's London, ed. Strype; Herbert's Livery Companies, ii. 143, 247; Malcolm's Londinium Rediv. ii. 411; Strype's Memorials, ii. i. 424-5, ii. 216; Brewer's Letters and Papers of Henry VIII; notes supplied by Mr, H. H. S. Crofts.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.33
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 59 | ii | 20 f.e. | Bowes, Sir Martin: after the city insert (for Aldgate 1586-40, Castle Baynard 1540-2, Farringdon within 1542-5, and Langbourn 1545 till his death) |
| 14 f.e. | after pp. 40-1) insert He was elected M.P. for London 1547, 1558, 1554 (bis), 1555, and 1556; was president of Christ's Hospital 1556 and comptroller of the London Hospitals from 1558 till his death | ||
| 7 f.e. | for Aug. read Sept. |