Colonel James Henry Bowker (23 August 1825 – 27 October 1900), was a Cape Colony naturalist, archaeologist and soldier.

He took part in the suppression of the Kat River Rebellion[3] and the capture of Fort Armstrong in 1846–7, for which he earned a medal and clasp.

His older sister Mary Elizabeth Bowker, who had married Frederick William Barber, was a noted botanist and entomologist as well as being a painter and author.

Bowker made many contributions to entomology, archaeology and botany over his almost 40-year long career, but his main interest was butterflies.

He discovered 40 new species and the new genus Deloneura immaculata (named by Roland Trimen in 1868, but now considered extinct).