John Bowring

John Bowring, born October 17, 1792 and died November 23, 1872, is a British politician, writer and hyperpolyglot.

Bowring was born in Exeter to a Puritan family, and apparently Unitarist, and studied at a dissenting university. He is a diligent student of literature and foreign languages.

With Giuseppe Mezzofanti and Georg von der Gabelentz, it is considered one of the greatest hyperpolyglottes (it comprises about 200 languages and speaks about a hundred). His main literary work is the translation of popular songs from several European countries, although he has also written hymns and poems, as well as books on politics and economics. The first fruits of his study of foreign languages appear in Extracts from Russian Poets (1821-1823). They are followed by Batavian Anthology (1824), Ancient Poetry and Romances of Spain (1824), Extracts from Polish Poets, and Serbian Popular Poetry, both published in 1827, and Magyar Poetry (1830).

In 1813 he did business in supplying the army of Wellington in Spain. In 1820 he became a "disciple" of Jeremy Bentham, to whom he was introduced by his friend the journalist Edward Blaquière.

He began writing for the newly founded Westminster Review (later edited by John Stuart Mill), of which he was appointed editor in 1825. Through his articles he acquired a certain reputation as a political economist and parliamentary reformer. In this paper, he became the advocate of free trade long before he was popularized by Richard Cobden and John Bright.

He advocated the Reform Act 1832, Catholic emancipation, and popular education. He visited the Netherlands in 1828, and was elected doctor of law at the University of Groningen in February 1829. He visited Denmark the following year to prepare a book on Scandinavian poetry. After failing in the English elections of 1832, he stayed in France for an inquiry into the silk industry, notably in Lyon (with his friend Arlès-Dufour) and then in Nantes. He then undertook an official trade mission to Belgium.

His policies and publications have been widely criticized by Friedrich List and Karl Marx. The latter criticized his hypocrisy and cynicism about the fate of English weavers (Discourse on Free Trade).