User:Simon M73

Hi I'm searching for anything relating to my Greatx3 Grandfather, James Cowen (or Cowan or Dr J Cohen). Born in 1796, he was variously described as a druggist, dispenser of drugs & chemicals, self-styled Medical & Surgical Reformer and, intriguingly, 'Patentee of a machine termed a Locomotive Land Battery or Devastator'. The Devastator was the first tank.

It appears he was imprisoned several times for various misdemeanours - mainly debt & posting placards critical of the government & royal family in front of his home and, curiously, imprisoned for 15 months for giving away £30 on the Sabbath! It appears he was the basis for a character in Charles Dickens' 'Little Dorrit', a Mr Gowan, whose life story is very similar to that of James.

He fought many cases in the courts, not least against Winston Churchill's father, Randolph, over ownership of the patent for the Devastator tank. This was a case that ruined him, losing all his money.