Herbert H. Gowen was born in 1864, in Yarmouth, England. He graduated with a B.A. in 1886 from St. Augustine's College, Canterbury, England and in the same year was ordained a deacon in the Anglican Church. Later in 1886 he went as a missionary to the Chinese community in Honolulu, Hawaii, and founded the Chinese mission there. Sun Yat-sen was one of the students at the mission school. Gowen was curate of the Anglican cathedral in Honolulu and chaplain to King Kalakaua and Queen Lilioukalani. Gowen remained in Hawaii until 1890, when he returned to England and served as curate of St. Nicholas Church in Yarmouth until 1892. He then went to Canada where he was curate of Holy Trinity Cathedral and rector of St. Barnabas Church,New Westminster, B.C. Gowen came to the United States in 1897 and was rector of the Protestant Episcopal Trinity Church in Seattle until 1914. He founded St. Peter's Japanese Mission in Seattle in 1908.
In 1909 Gowen became lecturer on Oriental subjects at the University of Washington. When in 1914 the UW formally established the Department of Oriental Studies, he was made the head of the department. In 1929 Gowen gave up administration of the Department of Oriental Studies, but he continued to teach for the department until 1938 and didn't retire from the UW until July 1, 1944.
Gowen published his first work (frequently revised and reprinted) of Asian scholarship in 1913, titled An Outline History of China, which was followed over the next twenty years by An Outline History of Japan, A History of Indian Literature, and A History of Religion. Apart from these major works, Gowen published over 150 shorter scholarly articles and reviews during his tenure at the University. Gowen was the founder and one-time president of the Seattle chapter of the English-Speaking Union, and at other times also served as president of the Washington Philological Society and the PacificNorthwest Academy of Arts. Gowen was a member of many organizations, including: the Royal Geographic Society;the Royal Asiatic Society; the Royal Society of Arts in England; the American Oriental Society; the Society for Oriental Research; the Japan Society; Phi Beta Kappa; Phi Kappa Phi; The Authors' Club of London, England; and the Rainier, University , Faculty, Monday, and China Clubs of Seattle.
Gowen died in Seattle in 1960.
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The Monday Club.
Contents of the Notebooks: The History, Literature and Institutions of China and Japan (Course 1, Oct. 1909-Feb. 1910); History of Japan; History of Religion; [Ancient History]; Monograph - "Problems of the Pacific and the International Mind."