Thomas E. A. Stowell

Thomas Edmund Alexander Stowell CBE, FRCS (1885 – 8 November 1970) was a British physician.

Stowell was educated at St Paul's School, followed by St Thomas' Hospital. From 1910, he took clinical training at St Thomas's Hospital, Grimsby and District Hospital, and the Royal Southern Hospital, Liverpool. He qualified as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1912. In 1927, he gained a Doctorate in Medicine, and in 1954 he received the Diploma in Industrial Health honoris causa from the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. Stowell appeared to indicate that he either possessed or had seen evidence implicating Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, in the notorious "Jack the Ripper" murders eighty years before. During an appearance on the BBC current affairs programme 24 Hours on 2 November, Stowell "seemed to accept tacitly" that the Duke was the Ripper. However, on 5 November 1970 Stowell wrote to The Times newspaper, "I have at no time associated His Royal Highness, the late Duke of Clarence, with the Whitechapel murderer." The letter was published on 9 November, the day after Stowell's own death. The same week, Stowell's son reported that he had burned his father's papers, saying "I read just sufficient to make certain that there was nothing of importance." Stowell's article awakened public interest in the Ripper murders, and the supposed connection of Prince Albert Victor to the murders was later developed by other writers, such as Stephen Knight in Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution.

Stowell's other interests included Freemasonry. He privately published The Centenary History of Cornubian Lodge 450 of Free and Accepted Masons in 1950.

Stowell's obituary in the British Medical Journal described him as "a tall elegant figure, with an intellectual face and sporting a monocle. Naturally witty, he was gifted with a fine sense of humour and a sense of fun. All this considered, and given that he was a splendid raconteur, he made an admirable companion."