Background
McGowan was the only son of Harry McGowan and his wife Agnes (née Wilson), and was educated at Hutchesons" Grammar School and Allan Glen"s School, Glasgow.
McGowan was the only son of Harry McGowan and his wife Agnes (née Wilson), and was educated at Hutchesons" Grammar School and Allan Glen"s School, Glasgow.
He joined Nobel"s Explosives Company as an office boy at the age of fifteen and worked his way up to professional manager. During the First World War McGowan carried out a merger of most of the British explosives industry, and in 1918 he became Chairman and Managing Director of Explosives Trade Limited (from 1920 known as Nobel Industries Limited). In 1926 this company merged with Brunner Mond, the United Alkali Company and the British Dyestuffs Corporation to form Imperial Chemical Industries (Imperial Chemical Industries).
He succeeded Lord Melchett as Chairman and Managing Director in 1930 and remained Chairman until 1950.
McGowan was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1928 and on 24 February 1937 he was raised to the peerage as Baron McGowan, of Ardeer in the County of Ayr. Lord McGowan married Jean, daughter of William Young, in 1903.