blish what he called ‘a Swedenborgian priesthood.’ On 28 June 1809 a rival conference met in Cowherd's chapel, and continued its sittings till 1 July. It was attended by four ministers, Joseph Wright of Keighley, George Senior of Dalton, near Huddersfield, Samuel Dean of Hulme, and Cowherd, with a considerable number of laymen, including Joseph Brotherton [q. v.], afterwards M.P. for Salford. This conference formulated a scheme of doctrine, which has a strong Swedenborgian tinge. No mention is made of vegetarianism or of teetotalism in the minutes of this conference, but in the same year the practice of both was made imperative in Cowherd's congregation. The new religious body thus formed took the name of Bible Christian, a designation also used by several other dissimilar religious bodies. Cowherd, on 26 March 1810, opened a grammar school and academy of sciences; he had a large number of boarders, and was assisted by two masters. He built Christ Church Institute, Hulme, which came afterwards into the hands of James Gaskill, who left an endowment for its support as an educational institution. Besides being a working astronomer, Cowherd was a practical chemist, and he treated the ailments of the poor with remedies of his own, so that he was familiarly known as Dr. Cowherd. In 1811 he had a project for a printing office, to bring out cheap editions of Swedenborg's philosophical and theological works. Robert Hindmarsh [q. v.], the leader of the Swedenborgian sect, went down to Manchester to assist the scheme; but Hindmarsh and Cowherd differed about abstinence and other matters, and soon came to a quarrel. Seceders from Cowherd and from Clowes built in 1813 a ‘New Jerusalem temple’ for Hindmarsh in Salford. Cowherd died on 24 March 1816. He was buried beside his chapel; inscribed upon his tomb is a brief epitaph written by himself, with the curious summary (adapted from Pope), ‘All feared, none loved, few understood.’ Cowherd's portrait shows a good-looking man, with a rather florid countenance. His congregation (to which Joseph Brotherton ministered for many years) still flourishes in a new chapel (1868) in Cross Lane, Salford, and possesses a valuable library, founded by Cowherd. Its members dislike the name ‘Cowherdite’ by which they are often called. There is a sister congregation in Philadelphia, founded by Rev. William Metcalfe.
Cowherd published:
- ‘Select Hymns for the use of Bible Christians,’ which reached a seventh edition in 1841.
Posthumous was
- ‘Facts Authentic, in Science and Religion: designed to illustrate a new translation of the Bible,’ part i. Salford, 1818, 4to; part ii. Salford, 1820, 4to (‘printed by Joseph Pratt, at the Academy Press, Salford;’ it consists of a compilation of extracts from various authors, those in part i. arranged under topics, those in part ii. under the several books of the Bible; the paging of the two parts runs on).
[Report of a Conference, &c., 1809; White's Swedenborg, 1867, ii. 610; Inquirer, 17 July 1869; Sutton's List of Lancashire Authors, 1876, p. 26; Axon's Handbook of the Public Libraries of Manchester and Salford, 1877, p. 38 sq.; information from Rev. Alfred Hardy (who assisted in Cowherd's school) and from Rev. James Clark, minister of Cross Lane Chapel.]
COWIE, ROBERT, M.D. (1842–1874), descriptive writer, was born in 1842 at Lerwick, the capital of the Shetland Islands, where both his father and uncle were well-known medical practitioners. He was educated partly at Aberdeen, where he took the degree of M.A., and at Edinburgh, where he was a favourite student of Sir James Y. Simpson. On the death of his father he took up his medical practice, and was held in high esteem, both for his professional and general character. He died suddenly in 1874, in his thirty-third year. Cowie was an enthusiastic lover of his native islands, one proof of which was his selection of certain physical peculiarities of the Shetland people as the subject of his thesis when applying for the degree of M.D. At a later period he contributed to the International Congress at Paris an article on ‘health and longevity,’ bringing out a wonderful prolongation of life beyond the average among the Shetlanders, which excited considerable notice. The interest excited by these papers led Cowie to prepare them for publication; but to make a more complete and popular volume much other matter was added. The book entitled ‘Shetland, Descriptive and Historical’ was the result, the latter part being a descriptive account of the several islands of the group. It forms one of the best accounts of Shetland that have appeared.
[Shetland, Descriptive and Historical, 2nd edition, with memoir of the author; British Medical Journal, 6 June 1874; Shetland Times, 4 May 1874; private information.]
COWLEY, Baron. [See Wellesley, Henry, 1773-1847].
COWLEY, Earl. [See Wellesley, Henry Richard Charles, 1804–1884.]
COWLEY, ABRAHAM (1618–1667), poet, was born in London in 1618. He was the seventh and posthumous child of his father, Thomas Cowley, a stationer (see Notes
