Chapter One

Childhood, Upbringing, and Schooling

Edward John Mostyn Bowlby was born in a Victorian upper-middle-class family in London in 1907. He was the fourth of six children to May Bridget Mostyn and Anthony Alfred Bowlby. His parents belonged neither to the old land-owning class nor to the new rising class of merchants and entrepreneurs, but to the top group of higher professionals (Van Dijken, 1998). John's father Anthony was a high-ranked officer in the British army. He was appointed surgeon to the household of King Edward VII and later surgeon-in-ordinary to King George V. He was knighted in 1923 and the Bowlby baronetcy is in existence to this day. Father Bowlby had a successful career and is typified as a "strong personality who stuck to his ideas when he believed they were right" (Van Dijken, 1998, p.18). As a father, though, Anthony Bowlby was not much available to his children – owing partly to his work as a military surgeon in wartime. This pattern was repeated by his son John. Also, as we shall see, John Bowlby would in his professional career stick to his ideas. He would almost stubbornly look for evidence to support them and for ways of convincing other people, just because "he knew he was right" (Van der Horst, Van de Veer, and Van IJzendoorn, 2007, p. 324). Also, just like his father, John was not much involved in the day-to-day matters of the Bowlby family (see later in the chapter).

Less is known about John's mother May Mostyn, who was from a comfortable – though not wealthy &ndas