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Sir John Bowring was born in Exeter. His father was a wool merchant to China. As a young man he travelled extensively, becoming a partner in his father's company in 1818, selling herrings to Spain and France. He became editor of the Westminster Review in 1825 advocating free trade, parliamentary reform and popular schooling. In 1832 he was appointed to carry our investigations on accounting systems in the Netherlands and France to make recommendations to the British Government. In 1835 he became a MP and in 1845 became Chairman of the London and Blackwall Railway.
In 1849 Bowring was appointed British Consul at Canton (Guangzhou) and superintendent of trade in China. From 1852 to 1853, he acted as Britain's Plenipotentiary and Superintendent of Trade and Governor of Hong Kong in the absence on leave of Sir George Bonham. Bowring was instrumental in the formation in 1855 of the Board of Inspectors established under the Qing Customs House.
The newly knighted Bowring received his appointment as Governor of Hong Kong and her Majesty's Plenipotentiary and Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China on 10 January 1854. He arrived in Hong Kong and was sworn in on 13 April 1854, in the midst of the Taiping Rebellion, remaining in Hong Kong until 1858.