LOWTHER, Sir William, 1st Bt. (c.1665-1729), of Swillington, Yorks.

Lowther was the largest single burgage holder at Pontefract, where he owned 60 burgages.1C. Bradley, ‘Parl. Rep. Pontefract, Newark and East Retford 1754-68’ (Manchester Univ. M.A. thesis), 21. Returned for it on petition in 1715, he voted with the Administration, speaking for the repeal of the Occasional Conformity and Schism Acts. In 1717, though he claimed to be able to choose the mayor and Members of Parliament, he complained that two of the Pontefract aldermen were disaffected and suggested that the Government should send down a mandamus ordering the mayor to replace them by Lowther himself and his son. Later in the year he got the late mayor and some other members of the corporation to sign a document surrendering their charter,2SP Dom. 35/9, ff. 36, 188. with the result that in 1718 the corporation received an order from the attorney-general to show cause against the issue of a new charter.3R. Holmes, Pontefract, ii. 342. Though the threat does not appear to have been carried into execution, Lowther was able thenceforth to nominate both Members without opposition till his death, 6 Mar. 1729.