William Cowie

A travelling communion set used by Bishop Cowie and his descendants. Holy Trinity Cathedral, Auckland. William Garden Cowie (8 January 1831 – 26 June 1902) was bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Auckland, New Zealand, from 1870 to 1902. Although he succeeded George Selwyn in having jurisdiction in this portion of New Zealand, he was the first bishop to be known specifically as Bishop of Auckland. His wife Eliza Jane Cowie (1835-1902) was a distinguished religious worker in her own right, and Bishop Cowie's journals refer frequently to her work with him.

Early life and career Cowie was born in London, to Alexander Cowie and his wife Elizabeth Garden, daughter of Alexander Garden. His father was from Auchterless, Aberdeenshire, in which county he grew up. but he died before stepping down the following week, on 21 June 1902 in Parnell, Auckland, and was buried at St Stephen's Cemetery.

He was a visitor and governor of St John's College, Auckland, and was appointed a Fellow of the University of New Zealand in 1880. During his visit to the United Kingdom in 1897, he received the degree Doctor of Divinity honoris causa from the University of Oxford. Notes - a visit to Norfolk Island (1872)

Family In 1869, he married Eliza Jane Webber, daughter of Dr. William Webber of Moulton, Suffolk, and granddaughter of Sir Thomas Preston, Bart., of Beeston Hill, Norfolk. She died on 18 August 1902.