Herbert Henry Gowen (1864–1960) was an Anglican missionary and orientalist who wrote on the history of China and Japan and was long associated with the University of Washington.

[1] Following his ordination, Gowen left to Hawaii at the invitation of Alfred Willis, then the Anglican bishop of Honolulu.

Willis was away when Gowen arrived, but he was greeted by a group of Chinese Christians from Kohala and led a service the following Sunday in what is considered the "beginning of St. Peter's Church, Honolulu".

From 1890 to 1897 Gowen served in Canada, as curate of Holy Trinity Cathedral and as rector of St. Barnabas Church in New Westminster, British Columbia.

He left Canada to continue on to the United States, serving as rector of Seattle's Protestant Episcopal Trinity Church and establishing St. Peter's Japanese Mission.