Bowie was born in London, and entered the service of the Royal Gardens, Kew, in 1810.
In 1817 Bowie was sent to the Cape; here he made journeys into the interior, and gathered collections of living and dried plants, while making drawings for the Kew Herbarium; the dried specimens went mostly to the British Museum.
A vote of the House of Commons having reduced the sum granted for botanical collectors, Bowie was recalled in 1823, taking up his residence at Kew.
He became a correspondent of William Henry Harvey, who dedicated the genus Bowiea to him.
Bowie left his employment in or before 1841, and made journeys into the interior to collect plants for sale.