George Bowen (missionary)
missionary in India
George H. Bowen (30 April 1816 – 5 February 1888) was an American missionary, newspaper man, linguist, and translator in India. He was known as "The White Saint of India" for his resemblance in manner and dress to the Hindu holy men.
Biography
Like many New Englanders of his generation Bowen was a skeptic, especially after reading the works of Edward Gibbon; however at the age of 28, in 1844, he grew into an acceptance of the Christian God upon reading William Paley's Natural Theology. Bowen subsequently enrolled in the Union Theological Seminary in New York and graduated from there in 1847.
Bowen went to India the next year as a missionary under the auspices of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He became assistant editor in 1851 and edited and published the Bombay Guardian from 1854 until his death in 1888. He was among the one of Christian missionaries who participated in famous religious polemics with Vishnubuva Brahmachari - an ascetic defender of the Hindu dharma. These meetings were held at Mumbai sea shore from 15 January 1857 to 28 May 1857 on every Thursday evening. Bowen had published a book viz. Discussions by the Sea Side giving brief report of these meetings.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “George Bowen (missionary)” as missionary in India. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as missionary in India. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q15430947. VIAF identifies the subject as 6960438. The Library of Congress control number is no92024902. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1816, 1888, 1844 and 1847.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “George Bowen (missionary)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow George Bowen (missionary) primary sources, George Bowen (missionary) archive and George research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “George Bowen (missionary)”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “George Bowen (missionary)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.