Henry Richard Dowson – known to everyone as Harry – was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in England on 2 March 1939. His father Matthew Ridley Dowson came from near Penrith, Cumbria, England and was a park gardener who rose to be head gardener of Newcastle's hospitals. His mother Frances Walker Dowson (whose maiden name was McQuet, pronounced mac-yew-it) came from Bo'ness, near Linlithgow in Scotland and was trained as a lady's maid. They met when they were in the service of the same landowner.