Andrew Cowan

Andrew Cowan (born 13 December 1936) is a Scottish former rally driver, and the founder and senior director of Mitsubishi Ralliart until his retirement on 30 November 2005.

Early years

Cowan was raised in Duns, a small town in the Scottish Borders, where he established a longstanding close friendship with future Formula One world champion Jim Clark, also a young farmer and the same age as himself. According to Cowan their lifestyles were a great help in their subsequent careers: "We each had to have a car. We were able to drive in fields, off road, and of course through all the twisty roads around here where there was practically no traffic in those days. That definitely refined our driving skills. We had advantages that other drivers didn't."

Both men were active in the Berwick and District Motor Club during the 1950s, but while Clark gravitated to open-wheeled racing, Cowan ventured off-road, and took part in the 1960 RAC Rally, eventually finishing 43rd of over 200 starters in a Sunbeam Rapier. Impressed by his success, his father bought him a newer, more powerful Rapier as a replacement, and behind the wheel of his new vehicle, he won the 1962 Scottish Rally, an achievement he later declared to be his "Most Important Moment". He returned the following year to successfully defend his title, and as a result the Rootes Group invited him to become their 'works' driver.

Andrew Cowan (writer)

Andrew Cowan (born 1960) is an English novelist and Director of the Creative Writing programme at the University of East Anglia.

Biography

Andrew Cowan was born in Corby, Northamptonshire, in 1960 and educated at Beanfield Comprehensive and the University of East Anglia (UEA). He is the Director of the Creative Writing programme at UEA, from which he graduated in 1985.

His first novel, "Pig" (1994), won a Betty Trask Award, the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, the Authors' Club First Novel Award, a Scottish Arts Council Book Award, the Ruth Hadden Memorial Award, and was shortlisted for five other literary awards. "Common Ground" (1996) and "Crustaceans" (2000) both received Arts Council bursaries. "What I Know" was the recipient of an Arts Council Writers' Award and was published in 2005. His creative writing guidebook, "The Art of Writing Fiction", was published in 2011. His fifth novel, "Worthless Men", was published in 2013.

Previously a long-standing tutor for the Arvon Foundation, he was for three years the Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at UEA. He was appointed to the faculty in 2004 and currently teaches and lectures at undergraduate and MA level, and supervises a number of PhD students. In 2011 he wrote UEA’s successful submission to the ‘Diamond Jubilee’ Round of the Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education, and was promoted to a Chair in 2012. He is on the board of the National Academy of Writing, and on the advisory board of the writers-into-schools charity First Story.

Andrew Cowan (soldier)

Andrew Cowan served as a Union artillerist in the American Civil War. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Gettysburg and the Battle of Sayler's Creek.

Pre-War

Andrew Cowan was born in Ayrshire, Scotland on September 29, 1841, and he migrated to the United States as a boy. He married his first wife, Mary Asdit, in upper New York State where she bore a son, Albert Andrew Cowan, in August 1867 but she died the following month most likely from complications from childbirth.

Civil War Service

Andrew Cowan had seen service in Virginia before becoming an officer in an independent battery.

The 1st New York Battery was recruited by Capt Terance J. Kennedy, mostly in Cayuga County, beginning on October 18, 1861. The battery was organized at Auburn, New York. Andrew Cowan was commissioned as the unit's first lieutenant. The battery was mustered into the service as a volunteer unit for a term of three years on November 23. The battery left for the Washington, D. C., arriving on December 4. Officially designated the 1st New York Battery three days later, it was assigned to BG William F. Smith's division of the Army of the Potomac in January 1862. The division joined IV Corps in March of, 1862. The division joined VI Corps in May 1862, serving in the Peninsula Campaign. By that time, Lt Cowan was in charge. He was promoted to the rank of captain during the Peninsula Campaign.