A native of Hetton-le-Hole, Co. Durham. He entered the Primitive Methodist Ministry from Wallsend-on-Tyne in 1906, receiving his training at Hartley College, Manchester. Mr. Cowie married a daughter of the Rev. John Watson, D.D. Throughout the united circuits he served he was held in high and affectionate esteem, and welcomed by every congregation. He preached with evangelical fervour, and with the deep desire to win his hearers for Christ. His sympathetic and kindly nature was manifested towards all who were in sickness or sorrow, and his steadfast devotion to duty was constantly exemplified. In 1917-18 he served as a Methodist Army Chaplain, rendering efficient service in Egypt and Palestine. He peacefully fell on sleep, on October 22, 1936, in the fifty-fifth year of his age and the thirty-first of his ministry, leaving behind him a fragrant memory.

Source: Minutes of the Annual Conference of the Methodist Church, 1937