Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bowles, Phineas
BOWLES, PHINEAS (d. 1722), major-general, is first mentioned in the 'Military Entry Books' in January 1692, when he was appointed captain-lieutenant in the regiment of Colonel W. Selwyn, since the 2nd Queen's, then just arrived in Holland from Ireland (Home Off. Mil. Entry Books, vol. iii.) In July 1705 he succeeded Colonel Caulfield in command of a regiment of foot in Ireland, with which he went to Spain and served at the siege of Barcelona. According to memoranda of General Erie (Treas. Papers, vols. cvi. cxvi.), Bowles's was one of the regiments broken at the bloody battle of Almanza. It appears to have been reorganised in England, as Narcissus Luttrell mentions Bowles's arrival in England on parole, and afterwards that he was at Portsmouth with his regiment, awaiting embarkation with some troops supposed to be destined for Newfoundland. Instead, he again proceeded with his Regiment to Spain, where it was distinguished at the battle of Saragossa in 1710, and was one of the regiments surrounded in the mountains of Castile, and made prisoners after a gallant resistance, in December of the same year. After this Bowles's regiment disappeared from the rolls, and its colonel remained unemployed until 1715, when, as a brigadier-general, he was commissioned to raise a corps of dragoons, of six troops, in Berkshire, Hampshire, and Buckinghamshire, to rendezvous at Reading. This corps is now the 12th lancers. In 1719 Bowles was transferred to the colonelcy of the 8th dragoons. He died in 1722.
Phineas Bowles, lieutenant-general, son of the above, served long as an officer in the 3rd foot guards, in which he became captain and lieutenant-colonel in 1712 (Home Off. Mil. Entry Books, vol. viii.) He made the campaigns of 1710-11 under the Duke of Marlborough, and was employed in Scotland in 1715 during the suppression of the Earl of Mar's rebellion. In 1719, being then lieutenant-colonel, 12th dragoons, he succeeded his father as colonel, and commanded the regiment in Ireland until 1740. He became a brigadier-general in 1735, major-general in 1739, and a lieutenant-general 27 May 1745. He was also governor of Londonderry (Chamberlayne, Magn. Brit. Not. 1745), and colonel of the 7th horse, now the 6th dragoon guards or carabineers. He died in 1749. He was member of parliament for Bewdley in February 1734-5.
[Luttrell's Relation of State Affairs, 1857, vi. 213, 427; Home Office Mil. Entry Books, vols. iii. and viii.; Treasury Papers, cvi. 57, cxvi. 32; Cannon's Hist. Records, 6th Dragoon Guards, 8th Hussars, 12th Lancers.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.34
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 69 | i | 2-3 | Bowles, Phineas: for in 1749 read on 12 Dec. 1746 ; before member insert whig |
| 4 | for in February 1734-5 read 1735-41 |