Transcript

of

Benjamin Morgan Cowie, D.D. [Obituary]

Trans. Devon Assoc., vol. XXXII, (1900), pp. 39-42.

by

Rev. W. Harpley, M.A.

Prepared by Michael Steer

The obituary was read at the Association’s August 1900 Totnes meeting. The Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 Supplement provides much detailed information about Dean Cowie’s life and many remarkable contributions. The obituary, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.

Benjamin Morgan Cowie, D.D., Dean of Exeter, was a member of an old Cornish family of Nonconformists long established in London, where he was born on June 8th, 1816. He received his early education partly in England and partly in France, and then proceeded to Cambridge, where he obtained a scholarship at St. John's College. In the Mathematical Tripos of 1839 Dr. Cowie came out Senior Wrangler. He also won the distinction of Second Smith's Prizeman, and on March 18th, 1839, was elected a Fellow of his college. He was ordained deacon in 1841 and priest in 1842.

Dr. Cowie had a keen interest in literature and literary records. In 1842 he commenced A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts and Scarce Books of the Library of St, John's College, Cambridge. This was issued by the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. The work showed no ordinary acquaintance with books and scarce manuscripts. Upon the death of the president of the Chetham Society, Mr. Turner-Crossley, Dr. Cowie undertook the completion of the Supplementary Catalogue of Chetham’s Library, a work in which he showed an extensive knowledge of ancient classical literature.

Upon leaving Cambridge in 1843 Dr. Cowie became the first curate of the then very "advanced" church of St. Paul's, Knightsbridge, under the recently-appointed incumbent, the Rev. W. J. E. Bennett, subsequently well known as Vicar of Frome-Selwood. He soon made his mark at Knightsbridge, and paved his way to higher distinctions. During 1844 he was appointed Principal and Senior Mathematical Lecturer of the recently-founded College for Civil Engineers at Putney. During the seven years he resided at Putney he took marked interest in the welfare of another recently-founded institution on the other side of the Thames - St. Mark's College for the Training of Parochial Schoolmasters, at Chelsea, then under the principalship of the late Rev. Derwent Coleridge. As the honorary secretary to the Committee of Management of St. Mark's he worked with his wonted vigour and success.

Upon the dissolution of the College for Civil Engineers in 1851 Dr. Cowie took up his residence for some four or five years at the Manor House, Stoke d'Abernon, Cobham, Surrey. During the interval between leaving Putney and his appointment in 1856 as Minor Canon and Succentor of St. Paul's Cathedral he occupied in 1852, and again in 1856, the position of Select Preacher at Cambridge. In 1853-4 he was Halsean Lecturer, and in 1859 was appointed Ramsden Preacher. His Hulsean lectures, entitled Scripture Difficulties, were published in two volumes - the first series in 1853 and the second in 1854. His sermons preached at Great St. Mary's, Cambridge, in 1856, were published under the title of Five Sermons on Sacrifice and Atonement.

In 1854 he was appointed Professor of Geometry at Gresham College. Soon after his appointment to a minor canonry at St Paul's the benefice of St. Lawrence's, Jewry, with St. Mary Magdalene, Mill Street, became vacant, and the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's nominated their junior colleague to the living. Dr. Cowie's incumbency of St. Lawrence's forms one of the most interesting features in his long and active career. No man ever infused more vitality into a deserted London City church than he did during the fifteen or sixteen years he was Vicar of St. Lawrence's. During some part of the same period he was equally active in another direction. In 1858 he succeeded Dr. Temple as Government Inspector of Training Colleges for Church of England Schoolmasters. Subsequently he was engaged on the Royal Commission for inquiring into the national system of education in Ireland. From 1866 to 1870 he was Warburtonian Lecturer at Lincoln's Inn; in 1866 he was appointed Honorary Chaplain, and on January 14th, 1871, Chaplain-in-Ordinary to the Queen. Upon the resignation of Dean Bowers, in September, 1872, he was nominated to the Deanery of Manchester. Dr. Cowie found much congenial work as custodian of the ancient Collegiate Church of Manchester. The reclamation of the Lady of Chetham Chapel, the last resting-place of Humphrey Chetham, with its "restored" screen by the late Sir Gilbert Scott, was entirely due to the efforts of Dr. Cowie. Some of the interesting older tablets in the church were even refurbished and their inscriptions retouched with his own hands. As rector of the cathedral parish he originated the successful St. Saviour's mission church in Park Street, Chetham, and with the aid of his parochial clergy organised numerous lodging-house services in the poorest parts of the parish.

In the performance of his duties as a citizen of Manchester Dr. Cowie was never backward. In fact, perhaps the most popular side of his character was shown in his social and public life. In connection with the Diocesan Board of Finance, the Church Building Society, and other diocesan institutions, he proved himself an able administrator. He did valuable service in the city in the cause of education, especially in connection with the establishment and development of the high school for girls. His work as a governor of the Grammar School and as a member of the Council of Owens College will secure for him lasting remembrance. In one old Manchester foundation, Chetham's College, under the shadow of his own cathedral church, he always took the warmest interest. Upon the death of Canon Raines, in 1879, he was unanimously elected a feoffee of that institution. His intimate association with the Hulme Trust will also be remembered.

In 1883 Dr. Cowie was made Dean of Exeter. His work at Exeter, if less conspicuous, was real. The Dean soon found himself surrounded by a new Chapter, and it is to his credit that, if he was past active work himself, he was eager that the younger men should do what he was not equal to. He showed that zeal for devout and artistic services which had characterised him elsewhere. He fostered in those with whom he worked an aptitude for orderly arrangement of the public functions and ceremonials which cathedrals are called upon to carry through with dignity and credit; even when growing infirmities interfered with his actual presence, those who were in charge under him felt his spirit, and tried to retain and express it as a token of regard; for though he was a man naturally cast in a dominating mould, he won the affection of colleagues by an attitude that was always kindly, courteous, and gentle.

Dr. Cowie joined the Association in 1885, and filled the office of President at the Exeter Meeting the same year. He was a Vice-President the following year, and subsequently served on several special committees. He was a man of rare administrative ability and a model chairman. His perfect command of temper, his readiness in seizing the point of every proposition, and his business habits combined to make him admirable in the conduct of a meeting, and no man knew better how to save time without scamping work.

He died in London in the early morning of Thursday, May 4th, 1900. On Saturday, the 6th, the body was removed to Exeter and placed in the cathedral. The funeral took place the following Monday at Poughill, near Bude. It was preceded by a service at Exeter Cathedral. A memorial service was also held in the Church of St. Lawrence, Jewry.

Dr. Cowie was married to his cousin, Gertrude Mary, daughter of Mr. Thomas Carnsaw, of Flexbury Hall, Cornwall.