Obituary MR E. S. BOWIE, Q.C.

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32098, 20 September 1969, Page 14

Obituary MR E. S. BOWIE, Q.C.

A leader of the legal profession in Christchurch, Mr Edgar Stirling Bowie, died yesterday. Mr Bowie was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1965, the first barrister in Christchurch to practise as Queen’s Counsel since the late Mr Frederick Wilding, K.C., was called to the Inner Bar in 1913. Sir Wilfrid Sim, Q.C., was called to the Inner Bar in Christchurch in 1939, but left almost immediately to practise in Wellington. Mr Bowie was born in Christchurch in 1907,' the second son of Mr J. S. Bowie, for many years chief accountant of the New Zealand Refrigerating Company, Ltd. Mr Bowie’s grandmother arrived at Lyttelton in 1851. After attending Christ’s College, where he was a house prefect in his last year at school (1924), Mr Bowie graduated Ll.B. from Canterbury College in 1928. He was admitted as a barrister and solicitor in February that year, three weeks after his twenty-first birthday. In August, 1930, Mr Bowie set up practice on his own account. In 1933, he graduated 8.C0m., and was admitted to membership of the New Zealand Society of Accountants as an associate, and in 1939 was made a fellow. He was on the committee of the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Society of Accountants for several years, and was chairman of the branch in 1939. Mr Bowie was appointed chairman of the North Canterbury No. 1 Farm Adjustment Commission in 1938 and held that office until the work under the Mortgagors and Lessees Rehabilitation Act, 1936, was completed. Between 1936 and 1950, Mr Bowie served on the council

of the Canterbury District Law Society, and was president in 1949. From 1948 to 1950 he was a member of the council of the New ZealandLaw Society. Mr Bowie lectured in the law of torts at Canterbury University College from 1951 to 1955. He was appointed a

member of the Law Revision Committee in 1963 and was later appointed to the Law Revision Commission. A brother, Mr N. S. Bowie, joined Mr Bowie in practice in 1943, and a third partner, Mr J. B. Stringer, a grandson of Sir Walter Stringer, K.C., was taken into the firm in 1954.

During his career, Mr Bowie was particularly noted for the kindness and helpfnines towards members starting in the profession. This year he delivered a course of lectures on legal ethics, advocacy and office administration to flnal-year law students. Mr Bowie, who was a brother of the late Mr C. S. Bowie, former Town Clerk of Christchurch, is survived by his wife and two sons, Messrs lan and David Bowie, and his daughter, Mrs Ann Blazey.