He is best known for his research using microscopes to study various human organs, though during his lifetime he pursued a successful career as an ophthalmologist.

Born in Nantwich, Cheshire, third son of a banker and amateur botanist/geologist, Bowman attended Hazelwood School near Birmingham from 1826.

[1] A childhood accident involving gunpowder is supposed to have interested him in medicine, and he was apprenticed to surgeon Joseph Hodgson at Birmingham General Hospital in 1832.

[1] He left Birmingham in 1837 to further his training as a surgeon and attended King's College London, where he served as a prosector under Robert Bentley Todd, a Professor of physiology.

In 1870 he commissioned Arts and Crafts architect Philip Webb to rebuild Joldwynds, Bowman's house in Holmbury St Mary, Surrey.