John William Bowden (21 February 1798 – 15 September 1844) was an English functionary and writer on church matters.
In 1812 he went to Harrow School, and in 1817 entered as a commoner at Trinity College, Oxford, simultaneously with his close friend John Henry Newman.
In collaboration with Newman, in the following year, he wrote a polemical poem in two cantos, St. Bartholomew's Eve On 4 June 1823 Bowden took his degree of M.A.
In the autumn of 1826 he was appointed a commissioner of stamps, holding the position for fourteen years, resigning it on account of ill-health in 1840.
[2] During the summer of 1843, Bowden's complaint returned with increased severity, and he died at his father's house in Grosvenor Place.
[2] Cardinal Newman attests emphatically that he died 'In undoubting communion with the church of Andrewes and Laud,' adding, with reference to his interment at Fulham, 'he still lives here, the light and comfort of many hearts, who ask no happier, holier end than his.'