Bowerbank was born in Bishopsgate, London, and succeeded in conjunction with his brother to his father's distillery, in which he was actively engaged until 1847.[1]
In 1847 he suggested the establishment of a society for the publication of undescribed British Fossils, and thus originated the Palaeontographical Society. From 1844 until 1864 he did much to encourage a love of natural science by being at home every Monday evening at his residence in Park Street, Islington, and afterwards in Highbury Grove, where the treasures of his museum, his 4 microscopes, and his personal assistance were at the service of every earnest student. He became specially interested in the study of sponges,[2][3] and he was author of A Monograph of the British Spongiadae in 4 vols., published by the Ray Society, 1864–1882.[1] He retired in 1864 to St Leonards-on-Sea,[4] where he died on 8 March 1877.[1]