Born in Norfolk, the artist died in Valence, 1914 (Bednar, NPC).  In 1883 he had exhibited a Newlyn title.

One of the art masters who met with the young Brian HATTON in Cornwall in 1903. Hatton arrived in St Ives hoping to gain critiques for his work from some of the prominent artists of the area, and after some little time and a visit to Dowson's studio, that he managed with the help of John Ward GIRLESTON (aka Girdlestone), a pupil of Albert Julius OLSSON, that he was able to make some useful contacts. Hatton made sketches of some of the artists he met, and Tovey includes these in his social history of the St Ives artists' colony (p258 includes one of Dowson).

Prior to this, Dowson lived in Windsor (1894 until at least 1896) and also in London (1902) before returning to Eton. His addresses for sending-in work are recorded as London (1880 and 1901) and Eton, Bucks (1881). This presents a rather confusing picture but may simply mean that he maintained homes and/or studios for a spell before moving back.  In 1903, in Hatton's diary Dowson is called "a nice old boy."  He exhibited extensively, primarily at the Fine Art Society but liberally elsewhere, and travelled widely on the Continent.