Robert Bowes was born on August 22, 1835, in Scotland.

He was a bookseller and publisher. In 1846, he joined his uncle Daniel Macmillan’s successful Cambridge bookshop Macmillan & Co. as an apprentice. Later he became a full partner, and the bookshop became known as Macmillan & Bowes. His son George Brimley Bowes became a partner in 1899 and the business was renamed Bowes & Bowes in 1907. The firm continued as a family business until 1953 when it was acquired by W. H. Smith, who continued to operate it under the original name until 1986. In 1992, the famous old site became the home of the Cambridge University Press bookshop.

Bowes was prominent in Cambridge life from his early years, working with Alexander Macmillan and members of the university to found the Cambridge Working Men’s College in the 1850s. Later he joined Frederick Denison Maurice and Henry Sidgwick to promote the higher education of women – Newnham College was founded in 1875 as a result. He served as a town councillor, a governor of the Perse School and of the Old Schools, and as chairman of the Free Library Committee. In 1914, Bowes became president of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association. In 1918, Cambridge University conferred on him an honorary degree of Master of Arts.

In 1868, he married Frances (Fanny) Brimley. He died on February 9, 1919, in Cambridge, England.