Henry Dowling

Henry Dowling (1810 – 17 September 1885) was a newspaper editor and politician in colonial Tasmania. He was the older brother of artist Robert Hawker Dowling.

Dowling was born in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England, son of Rev. Henry Dowling Snr (1780–1869), a Baptist minister and Elizabeth Darke (1782–1853). In 1830 he emigrated to Van Diemen's Land (later renamed to Tasmania), and was for some time on the staff of the Hobart Town Courier, but in the following year he purchased from John Pascoe Fawkner the Launceston Independent, and changing its name to the Launceston Advertiser, conducted it for some years with much success. In 1868 he accepted the secretaryship of the Launceston and Western Railway Company, and held that position until the year 1872, when this, the first of Tasmanian railways, was taken over by the Government. Amongst the works issued from Dowling's press may be mentioned an illustrated edition of the Pickwick Papers and West's History of Tasmania. Dowling died from heart failure on 17 September 1885 in Launceston, Tasmania.