He was born in County Tipperary, the son of Richard Prendergast Vowell, was educated there and served in the Irish militia from 1858 to 1860.
Vowell resigned his seat in the assembly after he was named gold commissioner and stipendiary magistrate for Cassiar.
Vowell resigned these posts in 1889 after being named superintendent of Indian Affairs for British Columbia, a federal position.
[1] In 1898, he was also assigned the duties of Indian Reserve Commissioner after the retirement of Peter O'Reilly.
During Vowell's tenure, in 1907, British Columbia rejected the allocation of any additional land to native reserves.