LOWTHER, Hon. Henry Cecil (1790-1867), of 31 Bruton Street, London; Barleythorpe, Rutland and Lowther Castle, Penrith, Cumberland

Described by Sir James Graham of Netherby as ‘a genuine old Tory of the long-horned kind’, Lowther, ‘a tall man with a white beard and remarkably red face’, represented Westmorland for over half a century and was Father of the House when he died.1R.S. Ferguson, Cumberland and Westmoreland MPs from the Restoration to the Reform Bill of 1867 (1871), 418; J.W. Lowther, A Speaker’s commentaries, I (1925), 11; H. Owen, The Lowther family: eight hundred years of a family of ancient gentry and worship (1990), 395-6. A fine horseman and career soldier who had served with distinction in the Peninsular war, he was the second son of the earl of Lonsdale, who in 1802 had inherited the family’s vast estates in Cumberland and Westmorland. First returned for Westmorland in 1812 on his father’s interest, Lowther had made no reported speeches before 1831, and was popularly known as the ‘silent Colonel’.2HP Commons, 1820-1832, vi. 166-8. He loyally followed the political leadership of his elder brother, viscount Lowther, whom he always referred to as ‘my Lord’, and was implacably opposed to parliamentary reform and Catholic relief. According to his grandson, James William Lowther, speaker of the House, 1905-1921, ‘his chief characteristics were extreme neatness, great punctuality and good manners’, though he ‘suffered from ... extreme diffidence in public speaking’. 3Lowther, Speaker’s commentaries, 11.

At the 1832 general election Lowther directed the Conservatives’ canvass of the Cumberland and Westmorland constituencies on his father’s behalf, as his brother was abroad, and was returned in second place for Westmorland.4Carlisle Patriot, 22 Dec. 1832. Thereafter he was re-elected unopposed and remained silent in debate. A steady attender, he voted for currency reform, 24 Apr. 1833, and, reflecting his family’s agricultural concerns, for the repeal of the malt tax, 27 Feb. 1834. He backed Althorp’s motion to replace church rates with a land tax, 21 Apr. 1834. He served on the 1833 select committee on the Dublin and Kingstown ship canal, but appears to have made little contribution to committee work thereafter.5PP 1833 (591), xvi. 451. He later served on the 1859 select committee on militia estimates: PP 1859 sess. 2 (121), v. 388.

Lowther remained dismissive of the Reform Act, asking at the 1835 general election ‘what earthly good it had ever done’. He also attacked the late Melbourne ministry for ‘creating useless places and still more useless commissions’, a theme he would return to in later nomination speeches when he relentlessly attacked ‘Whig jobbing’.6Westmorland Gazette, 17 Jan. 1835; Parliamentary test book (1835), 99. He backed Peel on the speakership, 19 Feb. 1835, and the address, 26 Feb. 1835. He voted against Irish church appropriation, 2 Apr. 1835, and thereafter consistently opposed the Melbourne’s ministry’s Irish policy, dividing against Irish municipal reform, 28 Mar. 1836, and the Irish tithes bill, 3 June 1836, 15 May 1838. Lowther’s grave mistrust of Catholicism seeped through most of his election speeches, and in 1837 he proclaimed that the Whig government was simply held up by ‘O’Connell and his popish tail’.7Westmorland Gazette, 5 Aug. 1837.

Although he was described as ‘short of speech’, Lowther, when addressing his constituents, was not afraid of using inflammatory rhetoric, and at the 1841 general election he declared that ‘as soon as parliament is reassembled, we shall get rid not only of Whigs and radicals, but papists and socialists also, with all the tag-rag and bob-tail of the set’.8Ibid., 10 July 1841. He loyally supported Peel on most major issues, including his sliding scale for corn duties, 9 Mar. 1842, though he opposed the ministry’s railway bill, 11 July 1844. He voted against Lord John Russell’s motion not to reintroduce income tax, 13 Apr. 1842, and his motion to consider the state of Ireland, 23 Feb. 1844. He parted with the premier over corn law repeal, 15 May 1846, and later told his constituents that ‘we did not desert you though our leader left us in the lurch’.9Ibid., 7 Aug. 1847.

At the 1847 general election he staunchly defended the navigation laws, claiming that ‘it does not require much knowledge of the matter to see the disadvantages of repealing those laws’. Reflecting his distaste for government-appointed commissioners, he also attacked the health of towns bill.10Ibid. An infrequent attender during Russell’s ministry, he opposed the Jewish disabilities bill, 17 Dec. 1847, and the repeal of the navigation laws, 23 Apr. 1849, and voted for a reconsideration of the corn laws, 14 May 1850.11In the 1849 session Lowther was present for 39 out of 219 divisions: Hampshire Telegraph, 20 Oct. 1849. At the 1852 general election, his published address stated that free trade ‘is not a policy which will be eventually found beneficial to the country’.12Westmorland Gazette., 10 July 1852. At the nomination he praised Derby’s short-lived ministry for its achievements and reiterated his support of the agricultural interest.13Carlisle Journal, 16 July 1852. He opposed Villiers’ motion praising the repeal of the corn laws, 27 Nov. 1852, and abstained from Palmerston’s subsequent resolution praising free trade over protection. He backed Disraeli’s budget, 16 Dec. 1852, and opposed Gladstone’s economic proposals, 2 May 1853. He was now an infrequent presence in the Commons, but was present for the key divisions concerning the prosecution of the Crimean war.14In the 1853 session Lowther was present for 47 out of 257 divisions: Daily News, 21 Sept. 1853. In 1856 he was present for 27 out of 198: J.P. Gassiot, Third letter to J.A. Roebuck: with a full analysis of the divisions of the House of Commons during the last session of Parliament (1857), 21. He supported Roebuck’s motion for an inquiry into the condition of the army, 29 Jan. 1855, Disraeli’s motion criticising the war, 25 May. 1855, and Roebuck’s censure of the cabinet, 19 July 1855. He was absent from the vote on Cobden’s censure motion on Canton, 3 Mar. 1857, but at the 1857 general election he argued that Sir John Bowring’s ‘hot-headed temper’ and Palmerston’s failure to act swiftly were at fault.15Westmorland Gazette, 4 Apr. 1857.

Lowther was in the minority for the Derby ministry’s reform bill, 31 Mar. 1859, and at the 1859 general election he declared that ‘I should be as ready as anyone to promote measures for the real benefit of the working classes, but I do not believe they would be made happier by becoming electors of Members of Parliament’.16Carlisle Journal, 15 Apr. 1859. For Lowther, ‘the Reform bill passed 27 years ago gave licence enough’.17Westmorland Gazette, 7 May 1859. Unsurprisingly, he voted against Locke King’s county franchise bill, 13 Mar. 1861, and Baines’s borough franchise bill, 10 Apr. 1861. He also cared little for the ballot, describing it as ‘inimical to the open straight-forward character of an Englishman’.18Ibid., 8 July 1865. At the 1865 general election he admitted that he was ‘ready to consider some suitable measure’ of reform, but insisted he would always oppose ‘admitting to the franchise such classes which would over flood the country’.19Carlisle Journal, 18 July 1865. He voted against the Liberal government’s reform bill, 27 Apr. 1866, but was absent from most of the divisions of the Derby ministry’s representation of the people bill, though he was in the minority against Disraeli in support of cumulative voting, 5 July 1867.

Lowther was Father of the House when he died at Barleythorpe Hall, Rutland, in December 1867. He had been ill for a few months and ‘under the labours of the Commons his goodly frame first broke down’.20Carlisle Patriot, cited in Westmorland Gazette, 14 Dec. 1867. In a charitable assessment of his parliamentary career, one obituary noted that ‘his shrewd judgement, unflinching integrity, and rare good sense, caused him to exercise an influence more felt than seen’.21Westmorland Gazette, 14 Dec. 1867. There was no doubt, however, about his sporting prowess. He made 47 known appearances in first-class cricket matches for Hampshire and Surrey, and was described as ‘a good steady batsman, forward in style’.22F. Lillywhite, Cricket scores and biographies (1860), i. 399. Lowther was succeeded by his eldest son, Henry, MP for Cumberland West, 1847-1872, who in 1872 succeeded as third earl of Lonsdale. Lowther’s grandson, James William Lowther, who sat for Rutland, 1883-85, Penrith 1886-1918, and Penrith and Cockermouth, 1918-21, was speaker of the House, 1905-1921, and was created first viscount Ullswater on his retirement.