George Bowes (prospector)

Napier of Merchiston had shown him samples of gold ore.[6] At the request of the Privy Council, Godolphin went to Carlisle to meet Bowes and Bevis Bulmer in November 1603.

[7] Bowes wrote to Earl of Suffolk while he was at Leadhills on 10 December 1603, describing the geology, and mentioned an earlier venture when he tried to form a partnership with Thomas Foulis, who had exclusive rights from James VI, but was discouraged by Queen Elizabeth.

[8] In another letter he described a story from an old miner's father of the discovery of a vein of gold in the time of James IV or Regent Albany, ninety years earlier, which they backfilled and hid.

Bowes was understandably cautious about these stories, which came from his rival Bevis Bulmer's employees, and men who would be grateful for work in new mining ventures.

[9] Bowes, Napier of Merchiston, Bevis Bulmer and John Brode sent a joint letter from Edinburgh on 29 December 1603 to the Privy Council.

[11] His letters to Robert Cecil, now Lord Essendon, complain that Thomas Foulis had disrupted his workings by detaining his English timber man.

[14] On 10 June 1605 he wrote to the Robert Cecil, now Earl of Salisbury, from Biddick Waterville about the progress of his search for gold in Scotland near Wanlockhead.

In 1604 he had found a potential seam of spar and yellowish clay, obtaining a grant of £200 to further the work, and in November began to mine there and drain the pit.

Bowes had mined copper at Keswick and Knowsley in Queen Elizabeth's time, and the efforts had given him bruises and distempers which shortened his life.

[16] Stephen Atkinson, wrote that "Mr Bowes" had found a vein of gold on Wanlock Water, which Bevis Bulmer later exploited.