Hi

I am looking for more information on the Cowin family of Mauritius, South Africa and Australia.

There were Cowins in shipping in Mauritius at least by the 1880s and Mr John Cowin, who died in 1895, was the first surveyor to Lloyd’s Register in Mauritius. Later, the Managing Director of the Cowin company was Mr T J Cowin who was also a director of La Flore Mauricienne, a well-known restaurant.

My cousin Arthur Bottrell left an obscure note in his papers that read: "Our Orry Cowin, sea captain and Commander in the RN, spent his retirement in South Africa with visits to his brother in Mauritius until his death in 1954 aged over 70. Cared for by his niece Iris Howard of Fishhock, Cape Province.”

In the census of 1881, a Thomas J Cowin is recorded as being 13 years of age, born 1868 Mauritius, a scholar and residing with a William Perry at Low Leyton, Essex. William had been born in Surrey, was married and his occupation a mariner. Also present was an Orry A de Lissa Cowin, a 9 year old scholar born in 1872 at Beau Bassin BS (boat station?), Mauritius. The boarders may well have been brothers.

I can find very little extra information on this family except that a William Cowin and wife Adela Janet Willmott came to South Australia in the 1880s and their eldest child Thomas Alexander Cowin was born c1877 at Mauritius. It suggests the families were linked.

If these Cowins relate to mine, they are likely to have originated in Onchan or Lonan. I am descended from Thomas Cowin (b1781 Onchan) and Margaret Karran who married in 1806 at Lonan.

Hoping someone can help.

Cheers, Ross of Canberra