Mary [May] Emily Bowers was born in the British Straits Settlement, the eldest child of Emily Bowers (nee Webb) and Captain Alexander Bowers and sister to Henry Robertson Bowers. In 1924, she married Sir William Maxwell, who had served as president of the Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society between 1880 and 1908 and as president of the International Co-operative Alliance from 1907 to 1921. She was widowed in 1929 and continued to live at Caerlaverock in Rothesay, Scotland. She died in 1952.
From the guide to the Mary Bowers collection, 1913-1921, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)