He was born in
Cork on 29 June 1840, as the fifth of five children of John Wheeler Dowden and Alicia Bennett. His famous brother was the poet, professor and literary critic
Edward Dowden. Although his father was
Presbyterian, John followed his mother by becoming an
Anglican, although he attended both churches in his youth. When he was sixteen he became a student at
Queen's College, Cork as a medical student. John began encountering health problems, problems which made it difficult to pursue his original career. In 1858, while contemplating a religious career, he enrolled at
Trinity College Dublin. He graduated in 1864 and was ordained as a deacon, moving to
Sligo. In the same year he married, wedding a woman named Louisa Jones, by whom he would eventually father six children. John was ordained as a priest in 1865, and moved through a variety of positions slowly rising in prestige. John continued his studies and received a
Bachelor of Divinity (BD) degree from Trinity College. In 1886, he was consecrated as the Episcopalian
bishop of Edinburgh and served in
St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in
Edinburgh's West End and served this role until death. In the late 19th century he lived at 10 Gillsland Road in the Merchiston district of Edinburgh, but in his later years he lived at 13 Learmonth Terrace, a substantial Victorian terraced house, west of the cathedral. He died in Edinburgh on 30 January 1910 and is buried in the Victorian north extension of
Dean Cemetery in western
Edinburgh. He is buried with his wife Louisa and son
John Wheeler Dowden LLD,
FRCSEd (1866–1936), who was
president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. His memorial in St Marys Cathedral was designed by Sir
Robert Lorimer in 1911. ==Scholarly work==