Joseph Hood Bowman was the son of land owner and agent, John Bowman, and his wife Catherine.

He joined the High School in 1894, at the age of 11, and left at the age of 17 to study law.

He passed his final bar examinations, and was called to the bar at Lincolns Inn on 15-Sep-1913.

He joined the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps as a Private, and gained his commission as a Lieutenant with the 7th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry on 27-Nov-1914.

Little is known of his military career, but after the war he practised as a barrister in London, and died in Kensington on 23-Sep-1952.