Hamilton Bower

Major-General Sir Hamilton St Clair Bower (1 September 1858 – 5 March 1940) was a British Indian Army officer who wrote about his travels through Xinjiang and Tibet.

Private life

Bower was born on Portsea Island, Hampshire, the son of a Scottish father Admiral James Paterson Bower (1806–1889) of Inverarity, Forfarshire, and an Irish mother, Barbara Hickson. He was educated at Edinburgh Collegiate School and the Royal Naval School, New Cross. His father had retired to 4 Moredun Crescent in Edinburgh.

Originally commissioned into the Duke of Edinburgh's Own Artillery Militia, he was appointed a Second Lieutenant in the Devonshire Regiment 23 October 1880. He was appointed to the Indian Staff Corps 2 February 1884 and posted to the 17th Cavalry 15 September 1885.

He is buried with his parents in Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh. The grave lies in the first north extension close to the main east–west path.

Personal life

He married firstly, Mary Sherrard in Simla, India in 1894. He married secondly, Maud Edith Ainslie in Shanghai in 1889. He had three daughters. The medical manuscript, which later became known as the Bower Manuscript, sent a shock-wave through the world of Indian scholarship, especially Indology, pointing to the existence of a forgotten Buddhist civilization in Chinese Turkestan.

During his time in Turkestan, Bower, who was then a British intelligence officer on a Government mission, attempted to track down the killer of Andrew Dalgleish, a Scottish trader murdered on the road from Leh to Yarkand in 1888.

In the 1890s Bower travelled to Tibet and wrote a memoir of his experiences entitled Diary of a Journey across Tibet. In 1894 he received the Royal Geographical Society's Founder's Medal "for his remarkable journey across Tibet, from west to east".

Later military career Bower served as D.A.Q.M.G (Intelligence) from 18 April 1893 to 4 May 1895.

He raised and commanded the 1st Chinese Regiment at Wei-hei-Wei in 1898, For his services during the rebellion, he was mentioned in dispatches (by Maj.-General Creagh)

He was the General Officer Commanding for the Abor Expedition and was rewarded with promotion to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath KCB.

He retired a Major General on 30 January 1914.

He was appointed temporary Lieutenant-Colonel and commandant of the Haddington Volunteer Regiment 1 September 1916. He relinquished his commission on 26 February 1920 and was granted the honorary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.

List of publications Some notes on Tibetan affairs. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India, 1893. Diary of a journey across Tibet. London: Rivington, Percival and Co., 1894. The Bower Manuscript : facsimile leaves, Nagari transcript, romanised transliteration and English trans. with notes. Calcutta : Off. of the Superintendent of Govt. Printing, 1894. co-authored with A. F. Rudolf Hoernle "A trip to Turkistan". Geographical Journal. 1895. 241–257 "The Abor Expedition: Geographical Results: Discussion". Geographical Journal, Feb., 1913, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 109–114. co-authored with L. A. Bethell and Thomas Holdich