[3] He became chairman of local banking, gas, railway, and other companies, and for the last twenty years of his life he was a leader in commercial circles and affairs.

[2] Bowly took an active part in the anti-slavery agitation, and by his powerful appeals completely beat Peter Borthwick, the pro-slavery lecturer, off the ground.

One of his earliest missions was to the members of his own religious society, undertaken in company with Edward Smith of Sheffield, throughout Great Britain and Ireland.

On behalf of the National Temperance League he attended and addressed 107 meetings during the last year of his life, travelling many hundreds of miles.

His second wife, Louisa Cotterell, was the widow of Jacob Henry Cottrell of Bath, especially known for his connection with the Rechabite Friendly Society.

They had four children (Deborah Phyllis died aged 2 1909) including F Ralph Barlow (1910-1980), a leading member of the Friends' Ambulance Unit in WW2 and who succeeded his father as Director of the Bournville Village Trust.