John Cowen became a Master Baker and Flour Merchant and lived at one time at 27 Brook St., Hull. He was reported to be a very political but generous man who had various properties and a good business.

John was born in Wansford, England in 1813, and was christened in 1814 at Sculcoates. He married Jane Darley Clark on 30th December 1836 at Hull (witnesses to the marriage were William Clark and Mary Foster Clark at Holy Trinity).

An alternative address for John Cowen is given as 3 Church Street, Sculcoates, Hull.

John died in Sculcoates, age 84 in 1897. He died in genteel poverty in Charterhouse. John and Jane had 10 children (two died in infancy):

John Henry (b13th October 1837) in Hull. Died in Hull in 1838 (buried with maternal grandparents).
Esther Elizabeth (b 13th February 1839 in Hull. Ester married John Henry Clark (a farmer) on 29th July 1866. D
Robert Issac (27/5/1843- 30/4/1913) Robert Issac Cowen is the ancestor of the Cowen/Davies clan.
Thomas Henry (1846-1930)
William Francis (1849—)
John Richard (12/10/1841-16/5/1929)
Jane (—)
Mary Frances (Polly) (22/9/1851—)
George Clark (1854-1854)
Alice Amy (1854-1854)

From notes on ‘The family tree of Daryl Raymond Cowen and Wendy Narelle Peacock (nee Cowen)’

The second John Cowen in the family tree, is shown in the 1851 Census of that part of Hull falling within the Parish of Holy Trinity, as a baker living at 126 Brook Street, Hull, and as having been born at Hull. At the date of the census he was 38 and, therefore, he would have been born in either 1812 or 1813. The 1857 and also the 1867 Directories show him as a Master Baker and Flour Merchant at the same address.

In 1876, William Salmon was recorded as being the proprietor, but, in 1888 the premises had become part of the Hull Infirmary. Today, Boots Ltd occupy most of that side of the Street, including 126.  

Jane Darley Clarke was born in London either in 1813 or 1814. She married John Cowen, the Baker, at the Holy Trinity Church of England in Hull (the largest Parish Church in the UK) in December, 1836.

The 1851 Census listed all members of the family then living, but not actual birthdates, Mary (nicknamed “Polly”) was born after 1851, and it is believed there was a daughter before Agnes and this child died as an infant.

Miss Iris Briggs (born 1907) a grand-daughter of Thomas Cowen, now lives at Hornsea (near Hull) while Miss Lorna Downie and Mr James Melville Downie, grandchildren of Mary Cowen, respectively reside at Chesterfield (Darbyshire) and Thorngubald (near Hull).