From school he passed to the Eagle foundry, Birmingham, where he improved himself in mechanical engineering.
at Glasgow, and attended lectures in Berlin, acquiring several modern languages and mastering various branches of physical science.
Bowman was immediately appointed his successor at Manchester as professor of classical literature and history, and he held that post till the removal of the college to Gordon Square, London, as a purely theological institution, in 1853.
Remaining in Manchester, though possessed of a sufficient independence, he gratified his natural taste for teaching by engaging in the education of girls.
From 1865, when the Owens scholarship was founded in connection with the Unitarian Home Missionary Board, he was one of the examiners.