Sir Ernest Arthur Gowers (2 June 1880 – 16 April 1966) is best remembered for his book Plain Words, first published in 1948, and his revision of Fowler's classic Modern English Usage. Before making his name as an author, he had a long career in the Civil Service, which he entered in 1903. His final full-time appointment was as Senior Regional Commissioner for Civil Defence, London Region (1940–45). After the Second World War, he was appointed chairman of numerous government inquiries, including the 1949 Royal Commission into Capital Punishment. He was also chairman of the Harlow New Town Development Corporation. Education and early life Gowers was born in London, the younger son of the neurologist Sir William Gowers and his wife, Mary, (daughter of Frederick Baines, one of the proprietors of the Leeds Mercury). The family lived in Queen Anne Street, W1. Ernest followed his elder brother, William Frederick Gowers (1875–1954), to Rugby School, where he excelled academically and in sport. At Rugby, Ernest was also noted as an outstanding organist, an accomplishment that became a lifelong hobby. Both boys won scholarships to read Classics at Cambridge--(William to Trinity College, Cambridge and Ernest to Clare College, Cambridge). Their sisters, Edith and Evelyn, mainly schooled at home, both lost their sight after developing Retinitis pigmentosa in early adult life. In 1905 Gowers married Constance Greer, daughter of Thomas Macgregor Greer (member of the Senate of Northern Ireland, and a Deputy-Lieutenant for Co. Antrim). They had two daughters and one son. Gowers's elder brother, William, went to Africa, joined the colonial civil service and rose to become Governor of Uganda (1925–32) and Senior Crown Agent for the Colonies (1932–38). Career Civil service career In 1902 Gowers graduated from Cambridge with a First in the Classical Tripos and attended Wren's, a civil service crammer in London, to study for the highly competitive Civil Service Examination. He also sat for the Inner Temple Bar exam, which he passed in 1906. In December 1903 he passed the Civil Service Examination, and embarked on the career that led to the claim that he "may be regarded as one of the greatest public servants of his day." Gowers entered the home civil service as an upper division clerk in the Department of Inland Revenue. He moved to the India Office in September 1904, and from March 1907 to October 1911, he was private secretary to successive Parliamentary