From GRF Newsletter June 2002:
HERBERT HENRY GOWEN
Herbert Henry Gowen, son of Henry Cobb Gowen and Mary Fuller
Gowen was born at Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, May 19, 1864. He
received his B. A. degree from St. Augustine College, Canterbury,
in 1886. He later attended Oxford University and Cambridge Uni-
versity. He was made deacon in the Anglican church in 1988.
Within the year, he went to Hawaii as missionary to the Chinese
community at Honolulu. Among his students there was Sun Yat-Sen,
later premier of China. Herbert Henry Gowen was fluent in ten
languages.
He was also curate of the Anglican cathedral in Honolulu and in
that capacity served as chaplain to King Kalakaua of Hawaii and
his successor, Queen Lilioukaiani, having been earlier ordained
a priest. Herbert remained in Hawaii until 1890, when he re-
turned to England and became curate of St. Nicholas Church, Yar-
mouth, serving until 1892.
On January 7, 1892, he was married there to Annie Kate Green,
daughter of George E. Green. Henry was rector of St. Barnabas
Church, New Westminister, British Columbia from 1892 to 1896.
He was placed in charge of Trinity Parish, Seattle, Washington
in 1897 and became a citizen of the United States about 1900.
He spoke and read in English, Latin, Greek, French, Spanish,
Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Sanskrit and Hebrew, according to
“National Cyclopaedia of American Biography.” He received a
D.D. degree from Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington in
1912.
In 1916, he was placed in charge of St. Barnabas Church in Seat-
tle where he had the oversight of Japanese missions. He was
professor of oriental languages at the University of Washington
from 1906 to 1945 and was professor emeritus there afterwards.
He was President of Washington State Philosophical Society.
He was a fellow of the Royal Geological Society of London. He
was a fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society and an honorary fel-
low of St. Augustine’s College of Canterbury. A Phi Beta Kappa,
he was a member of the Royal Society of Arts and a member of
the American Oriental Society. He was awarded Chevalier of
Crown of Italy in 1928. He was a member of the Third Class
Order of Sacred Treasure of Japan in 1929. He was an Episco-
palian minister in Seattle in 1930, retiring from the pulpit
in 1945. He died in Seattle November 6, 1960.
Children born to Herbert Henry Gowen and Annie Kate Green Gowen
include:
Vincent Herbert Gowen born in 1893
Lancelot Edward Gowen born about 1895
Felicia Joyce Gowen born about 1898
Rupert George Gowen born about 1901
Sylvia Mary Gowen born about 1905
Goyen Family Tree 