The Bowles of Bawnlea, Kilcooly parish, co. Tipperary

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Many Bowles families emigrated to Canada over the years but the one which had the biggest impact on events in Canada was The Bowles of Bawnlea.  Charles Bowles and his family of Bawnlea left Ireland to settle in Ontario, Canada in 1827 and his parents, brother David and sister Rose joined him there three years later.  Many of his descendants, which included the Prime Minister of Canada and Nobel prize winner, The Hon. Lester Bowles Pearson, had a significant influence on their new country.  See Notable Members of The Bowles of Peel County

George Bowles married Barbara Young (possibly originally Jung) from the German Palatinate settlement in Kilcooly parish in about 1795 and their son Charles was born about 1797. 

The 1826 Tithe Applotment Book lists  George and Charles Bowles holding land in Bawnlea (or Bawnreagh), Kilkooly parish, which doesn't necessarily mean that they lived there.

The applotment also lists a John Bowles and the widow Bowles sharing a comman area with a larger group in the Kilcooly Commons.  That does imply that they were actually living there. 

All four were tenants of Chambre Brabazon Ponsonby-Barker, Esquire of Kilcooly.  Barker's sister, Mary Brabazon Ponsonby, was married to Thomas Barton who was the landlord of the Bowles family in Fethard providing a possibility of a connection between the Bowles of Kilcooley and the Bowles of Fethard.  However, nothing further on that possibility has been found.

The road in between Bawnlea and The Commons (or Blackcommon)was known as The Palatine Street and was the location of a German Palatinate settlement. 

The Bowles of Bawnlea were Protestants and the Bowles of The Commons were Catholics but DNA tests done by their descendants in Canada have proven them to be of the same family.  Relations between people of the two religions were already at a low point before the tithe applotment.  In 1826, when all landholders in Ireland, including the Catholics, were assessed an annual fee to be paid directly to their local Protestant Parish Minister for his support and for the maintenance of his church, relations quickly became much worse.  Protests against the tithes were particularly violent in Tipperary and Kilkenny.  Families with members of both religions, such as the Bowles, were torn apart.  In 1827, when the English Parliament was considering a bill that would ease the situation by permitting Irish Catholics to vote in national elections, opponents to the bill organized the signing of anti-catholic petitions throughout England and Ireland for presentation to Parliament.  When the list of the signers of the Anti-Catholic Petition in the Barony of Slieveardagh was published in the newspaper on May 12, 1827 the names included Charles Bowles of Bawnlea and several Bowles in nearby Crohane parish: Charles Bowles Sr., David Bowles, William Bowles and John Bowles.  This is just speculation on my part but as Charles Bowles landlord, Chambre Brabazon Barker, was one of the large estate holders who was strongly opposed to any increased Catholic rights it's unlikely that Charles had much choice in signing the petition.  Similarily, the Bowles of Crohane's landlord was Guy Luther (or Lowther), Barker's half-sister's son, so they were possibly in the same position.

The family tradition of The Bowles of Peel, Ontario, Canada is that their ancestor Charles Bowles of Bawnlea emigrated to Canada via the port of Wexford in May 1827.  It has to be assumed that his departure was connected to the publishing of his name as a signer of the petition. 

This was the start of The Tithe Wars which were particularly violent in Kilkenny and Tipperary.  Many of the Catholic tenants refused to pay their tithes to the Protestant church and banded together to protect each other from attempts made by the tithe collectors, backed by the police and military, to force them to pay.

In 1830, again according to family tradition, Charles' father, George Bowles and his wife Barbara and Charles' brother David and sister Rose also left Ireland to join Charles in Peel county.  That would explain why George Bowles, although a Protestant, appears on the Tithe Defaulters List in 1831.  See The Tithe Wars and the 1831 Tithe Defaulters List

The names on the Anti-Catholic Petition have Charles Bowles in Bawnlea and several Bowles including a Charles Sr. and a David at Crohane which is only about 8 miles from Bawnlea.   The settlement at Killenaule was only started in the late 1700's and the Bowles arrived sometime after that but I don't yet know where they came from.  I'm still sorting out the Bowles of this part of Tipperary but this connection to Crohane is interesting.  See The Bowles of Crohane and Sorting Out The Bowles of Kilcooly and Killenaule

Bowles of Bawnlea Family Tree