Bowley, Arthur Lyon (1869–1957)

Abstract

Bowley was born on 6 November 1869 in Bristol, and died on 21 January 1957 at Haslemere. In 1922 he was made a Fellow of the British Academy and knighted in 1950. He was educated at Christ’s Hospital from 1879 to 1888, and Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1888 to 1891 (10th Wrangler, 1891). He stayed on another two terms studying physics, chemistry and, under the influence of Alfred Marshall, who remained a lifelong friend, economics. After a period as a schoolmaster, he became lecturer in mathematics, and then professor of mathematics and economics at University College, Reading, from 1900 to 1919. He concurrently taught at the London School of Economics from its inception in 1895, first as lecturer, then reader, then professor, and finally, from 1919, as the first holder of the newly established Chair of Statistics at the University of London, becoming Emeritus Professor on his retirement in 1936.