Henry Bowcock
- formal_name:
- first_date: 1777
- last_date: 1779
- function: Printer
- locales: Williamsburg
- precis: Journeyman Printer who died in Williamsburg in February 1779.
- notes: Printer
Williamsburg
Journeyman Printer who died in Williamsburg in February 1779.
Henry Bowcock was a son of Williamsburg. His grandfather and name-sake owned the famed Raleigh Tavern before 1730; his eldest son, Edward, was father to this Henry. Where Henry learned his tradecraft is unclear, but he was minor assigned a guardian by the York County court in September 1773, choosing James Southall, then a business associate of John Dixon (140). So his training likely came in the Purdie & Dixon office until 1774 and in the subsequent Dixon & Hunter office thereafter. Bowcock was evidently employed in Dixon's office in the fall of 1777 – then a partnership with Thomas Nicolson (315) – as he was not recorded on a list of Purdie's workers contained in a report to Virginia's House of Delegates on the conduct of the public's work in that printing office, then the only other press there.
Bowcock died in early February 1779, and his unsigned will was entered for probate in the York County Court on February 15th. An inventory submitted a month later recorded a large collection of books and five slaves (three adults and two children) in an estate valued at almost ₤2800 currency. His will directed the sale of those slaves, providing that his domestic slave Winny and her two young children be sold "to one man at one place" to keep them a family. After the collection of his debts, and the sale of his other property, Bowcock desired that his estate be divided equally among his "worthy friends" James Southall, James Honey, and Thomas Brend (051). His executors were still advertising for payment of any debts due to the estate the following spring when the state government, and Dixon & Nicolson with it, removed to Richmond.
Personal Data
Died:
February
1779
York County, Va. (north side of Williamsburg)
Never married and left no children.
Sources: Bowcock data in York County Records Project and Williamsburg People files, CWF; Journal of the House of Delegates, Dec. 17, 1777; Tyler, Williamsburg; Virginia Gazette (Dixon & Nicolson), Apr. 1, 1780.
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content contained herein will not be updated, as it is part of the Library of Virginia's personal papers collection.
For more information, please see David Rawson Index of
Virginia Printing website. Accession 53067. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond,
Virginia.