Henrietta Bowdler was an English religious author and literary expurgator, notably of the works of William Shakespeare. Bowdler is thought to have done most of the editing of the first expurgated edition of Shakespeare's works, The Family Shakspeare (1807). A 'Cornish romance' novel of hers was published just after her death.
Bowdler's significant Cornish connection comes through her brother, Thomas Bowdler, with whom she worked closely on her expurgation. In 1806, he married Elizabeth Trevenen of Helston. Trevenen was the widow of James Trevenen, a captain in the Royal Navy who had sailed with Captain James Cook and witnessed his death at Kealakekua Bay. Trevenen himself died in 1790, after entering the service of Catherine The Great and engaging in Russia’s war against Sweden. Thomas Bowdler and Elizabeth Trevenen eventually seperated, with Trevenen returning to Helston. It was an unhappy marriage which was after never mentioned in the Bowdler family. Thus, the Bowdlers were linked with well-connected and wealthy Cornish Trevenen family of Helston.
See Patrick Carroll's piece on the Trevenens and Cross Street in Helston for the Bowdler-Trevenen connection: https://www.patrickcarroll.co.uk/helstonia-no-1-cross-street/.
Works in our collections
Emily Trevenen was the a niece of Elizabeth Trevenen and her first husband Captain James Trevenen. She was the daughter of James Trevenen's older brother, Reverend Thomas Trevenen. She was thus related to Henrietta Bowdler through her aunt's short lived marriage to Bowdler's brother Thomas.