About 1667 John Bowles, a Turkey merchant, founded the Vauxhall Glass Works which, together with its subsidiaries, the Southwark and the Ratcliff factories, developed by the end of the century into the greatest glass manufactory in the country. On his death in 1709 the control of his business passed to his eldest son Phineas, who died in 1718, leaving legacies totalling £34,000. Under partnership deeds the business then became the property of Phineas’s widow and certain of his sons, of whom the eldest, William, became the predominant partner. In 1720 William Bowles bought the estate of Burford on the borders of Worcestershire and Shropshire for £35,000.
At the 1734 general election Bowles was returned for Bewdley where he had recently acquired a controlling interest, as well as for Bridport, choosing to sit for Bridport and bringing his brother Phineas in for Bewdley. He spoke against Sir John Barnard’s proposal for reducing the interest on the national debt in 1737; did not take part in the division on the Spanish convention in 1739; was included in a ministerial list of absent opposition Members on 21 Nov. 1739;
Bowles was again returned for both Bridport and Bewdley in 1741, thenceforth sitting for Bewdley. He voted with the Administration on the chairman of the elections committee in December 1741, but was absent from a critical and close division of 21 Jan. 1742, when he ‘sat diverting himself all night at Garraway’s coffee house’.