William Clark Cowie

William Clark Cowie (8 April 1849 in Friockheim, Forfarshire; – 14 September 1910 in Bad Nauheim) was a Scottish engineer, mariner, and businessman who helped establish British North Borneo and was Chairman of the British North Borneo Company.

Born on 8 April 1849, Cowie was the oldest of four children of the flax producer David Cowie (1825–1896) and Ann Cowie (1819–1906) in Scotland, where his mother ancestors had lived for generations. His three siblings were Mary, Andson and Edward.

The family moves to Arbroath on the Scottish east coast. His father was a director in the Wardmill Works of M.C. Thomson & Co., and Cowie trained as an engineer. He received private lessons with the aim of following his grandfather, an engineer in one of the first mills in Scotland.

Around 1873, Cowie married Flora Davidson. They had two children; Flora de Cruz (born 1874) and William Anson Edward Cowie de Cruz (born 1875). His wife died suddenly, aged 25, shortly after the birth of their second child. Cowie then married Amy Constance Pead, and they had two children; Muara Gladys (born 1888) and Andson Gordon (born 1891).

From April 1870, Cowie was hired as the chief engineer of Argyle under Captain Peter Orr and left Glasgow for Singapore on his 21st birthday. He then began to lead life as an adventurer in the pirate-infested waters of the Malay Archipelago. His career as chief engineer for Argyle ended at the end of 1872 when he was hired by Carl Schomburgk as captain of the Far East, and was commissioned to break the Spanish naval blockade to deal with the Sultan of Sulu, who ruled parts of the northern Borneo. His successful efforts forged a deep friendship with the Sultan of Sulu.

Cowie convinced the Sultan that to achieve a lasting success in overcoming the Spanish blockade he would need access to a safe harbour; from there he could wait until the shipping route to Sulu was free from Spanish warships. The Sultan permitted Cowie to build a port for his goods at Timbang Island in Sandakan, creating a British presence in Borneo. Cowie, along with two friends - Carl Schomburgk and John Dill Ross - founded the Labuan Trading Company, whose main task was to evade the Spanish naval blockade and bring weapons, opium, tobacco and goods to Sulu. No company ships were ever caught by the Spaniards.

...
Wikipedia