The son of Vincent Dowling (1756–1825), an Irish journalist and bookseller, and elder brother of
Sir James Dowling and
Alfred Septimus Dowling, he was born in London, and received his earlier education in Ireland. He returned to London with his father after the
Anglo-Irish Union in 1801, and sometimes helped him in his duties for
The Times. Soon after he went to work for the newspaper
The Star, and in 1809 transferred to
The Day. In 1804 he had become a contributor to
The Observer, launching a working relationship with
William Innell Clement that continued until Clement's death in 1852. Dowling was present in the lobby of the
House of Commons when
John Bellingham shot
Spencer Perceval, on 11 May 1812, and was one of the first persons to seize the murderer, from whose pocket he took a loaded pistol. From open reporting on a meeting of radicals at
Spa Fields in 1816, Dowling moved to gathering intelligence in public houses for the
Home Office. He gave evidence at the trial of
James Watson the
Spencean in 1817. At times, Dowling went to great lengths to obtain early news for the
Observer. When
Queen Caroline was about to return from the continent, after the accession of
George IV in June 1820, Dowling proceeded to France to record her progress, and being entrusted with her majesty's despatches, he crossed the Channel in an open boat during a stormy night, and was the first to arrive in London with the news. Dowling was appointed editor of ''
Bell's Life in London in August 1824, a post he held for the rest of his life. He claimed to be the author of the plan on which the Metropolitan Police was organised; the names of the officers, inspectors, sergeants, and so on, were published in Bell's Life'' nearly two years before
Sir Robert Peel spoke on the subject in 1829. He was active in London parish affairs; was constantly named stakeholder and referee in major sporting contests; and wanted to make
boxing cleaner and more sporting. He died from disease of the heart, paralysis, and
dropsy, at Stanmore Lodge,
Kilburn, 25 October 1852. ==Works==