Bowdler’s Day Date in the current year: July 11, 2026

Bowdler was born on July 11, 1754, into a wealthy family. During Bowdler’s childhood, his father entertained wife and their six children by reading Shakespeare to them. Later in life, Bowdler and his sister, Henrietta “Harriet”, realized that their father had altered or omitted certain passages he deemed inappropriate for his wife and children to hear.

The Bowdler siblings then came up with the idea of publishing a family-friendly edition of Shakespeare’s plays. Similar projects had been undertaken before, but the Bowdlers focused on removing sensitive material while altering the plays’ overall narratives as little as possible. In contrast, previous censors took creative liberties with Shakespeare’s text, rewriting it extensively.

It is now believed that Harriet did most of the work on the first edition of The Family Shakespeare, but the book was published under Thomas’s name only. This was presumably because a woman could not publicly admit to being capable of such work, or of understanding the “racy” parts of Shakespeare’s plays.

The first edition of The Family Shakespeare was published in 1807 without attracting much attention. It contained twenty plays in four volumes. After that, Bowdler took over and prepared a second edition, which included all 36 available plays. Each play had a preface in which Bowdler explained and justified the changes he had made. Interestingly, Bowdler reversed some of Harriet’s changes from the first edition but made new ones.

The second edition, published in 1818, received more attention than the first. By the time of his death in 1825, the verb “to bowdlerize” had been derived from Bowdler’s name. It meant “to remove sensitive or inappropriate content from a text”. The word did not have negative connotations at the time since making texts more appropriate for young readers or families was considered completely acceptable and even commendable.

The situation changed in the early 20th century. In 1916, English author and journalist Richard Whiteing published an article denouncing Bowdler and comparing his efforts to the Catholic Church’s Index of Forbidden Books. What’s particularly important is that Whiteing’s article reflected a shift in public opinion that had occurred since Bowdler’s time, not merely one man’s view.

Today, “bowdlerization” has pejorative connotations because it is primarily viewed as a form of censorship. However, the issue of altering literary works has become more nuanced, as proposed alterations today are often motivated by concerns about language related to race, ethnicity, gender, or disability rather than propriety. For example, the revised editions of Roald Dahl’s books, which removed words and passages deemed derogatory by sensitivity readers, drew criticism from across the political spectrum.

Some observe Bowdler’s birthday, July 11, as Bowdler’s Day. Instead of celebrating Bowdler’s legacy, the day invites people to discuss bowdlerization and censorship in general within the context of the modern world.