LOWTHER, William (1821-1912), of Lowther Lodge, Kensington Gore, London and Barleythorpe, Rutland

A member of Westmorland’s dominant political dynasty, Lowther succeeded his father, Colonel Henry Cecil Lowther, as Conservative MP for the county in January 1868. Lowther’s grandfather was William Lowther, first earl of Lonsdale, who in 1802 had inherited the family’s vast estates in Cumberland and Westmorland. Before entering Parliament, Lowther enjoyed a distinguished career in the diplomatic service, which culminated in his appointment as minister plenipotentiary to Argentina in 1867, though, following the death of his father in December that year, he never took up the post, electing instead to offer for the vacancy at Westmorland.1H. Owen, The Lowther family: eight hundred years of a family of ancient gentry and worship (1990), 396; R.S. Ferguson, Cumberland and Westmoreland MPs from the Restoration to the Reform Bill of 1867 (1871), 418.

In his published election address, Lowther conceded that the length of his diplomatic service had ‘deprived’ him of becoming ‘personally known’ to the electors, but insisted that ‘I bear a name which has from the earliest times been intimately associated with the county of Westmorland’.2Westmorland Gazette, 21 Dec. 1867. Unafraid to highlight his familial connections, he also peppered his election speeches with references to his diplomatic career. Believing that unless the British education system was reformed the country would ‘be behind its continental neighbours’, he praised the Prusssian model of technical schools, with which he had become closely acquainted during his seventeen years in Berlin. He also sought to reassure his audiences that the ‘gloomy’ state of foreign affairs portrayed by many statesmen was a gross exaggeration.3The Times, 9 Jan. 1868. Reflecting his family’s historic mistrust of Catholicism, he expressed ‘disgust’ at Fenianism, and pledged to support ‘any measures that the government introduced to suppress their lawless proceedings’, declaring that ‘severe maladies require severe remedies’.4Ibid.

Elected unopposed, Lowther had little time to make his mark in the Commons before the 1868 general election, though his two known contributions to debate prior to the dissolution reflected his chief concerns. He zealously defended the diplomatic service from accusations of abuse, arguing that no government department was ‘better or more efficiently administered’ than the foreign office, 26 May 1868, and during a debate on the public schools bill, he called for greater financial support for Westminster school, 7 July 1868. He also served on the 1867-68 select committee on scientific instruction.5PP 1867-68 (432), xv. 2. He voted against Gladstone’s motion on the Irish Church, 30 Apr. 1868, and followed Disraeli into the division lobby against the representation of the people (Scotland) bill, 18 May 1868, and for the corrupt practices at elections bill, 25 June 1868.

Re-elected at the 1868 general election, Lowther spoke regularly in Parliament (unlike his father who had been known as the ‘silent colonel’) and continued to support Disraeli on most major issues, though ‘his diplomatic experience and his extreme fairness of mind kept him from being in any extreme sense a party man’.6The Times, 24 Jan. 1912. Like his father, ‘he shunned conflict; and, though not disinclined to an argument, would hasten to break it off, if it showed any signs of leading to a serious difference’.7J.W. Lowther, A Speaker’s commentaries, i (1925), 18. He continued to represent Westmorland until the constituency’s abolition in 1885, whereupon he sat for Appleby until his retirement in 1892. He was arguably better known, though, for his extra-parliamentary social activities. He and his wife, Charlotte Alice, a society hostess and amateur artist, had a large circle of friends, and Lowther Lodge, their London town house designed by the leading architect Norman Shaw, become noted for its hospitalities.8A. Saint, Richard Norman Shaw (2009), 158-60. He was also a successful horticulturalist, winning numerous prizes at the principal flower shows.9The Times, 24 Jan. 1912. In 1872, following the death of his uncle, the childless second earl of Lonsdale, and the succession of his elder brother, Henry, to the title, he obtained a patent of precedence as the son of an earl.10London Gazette, 23 Apr. 1872. He died suddenly from capillary bronchitis while staying at the Felix Hotel, Felixstowe, in January 1912.11The Times, 24 Jan. 1912. He left effects valued at £92,742 0s. 1d.12England and Wales, National Probate Calendar, Index of wills and administration, 1861-1941, 9 Sept. 1912. He was succeeded by his eldest son, James William Lowther, who sat for Rutland, 1883-85, Penrith 1886-1918, and Penrith and Cockermouth, 1918-21, and was speaker of the House of Commons, 1905-1921. Lowther’s papers and correspondence are held at the Cumbria Record Office.13Cumb. R.O. D LONS/L.