LOWTHER, Henry (1818-1876), of 21 Wilton Crescent, London and Whitehaven Castle, Cumberland

Lowther, who claimed that he had ‘a name in which confidence might be placed’, was the eldest son of Colonel Henry Cecil Lowther, MP for Westmorland 1812-1867, and the grandson of William Lowther, first earl of Lonsdale, who in 1802 had inherited the family’s vast estates in Cumberland and Westmorland.1Daily News, 14 Aug. 1847. Lowther, who was remembered as ‘a big, burly man, rather ferocious in aspect but not wanting in kindness or generosity’, was a keen sportsman.2J.W. Lowther, A Speaker’s commentaries, I (1925), 8. He spent a great deal of his time at Asfordby, near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, where he indulged his passion for horse racing, and, for several years, was master of the Cottesmore hounds, in the neighbouring county of Rutland.3H. Owen, The Lowther family: eight hundred years of a family of ancient gentry and worship (1990), 400-1. Following a largely unremarkable career in the army, Lowther entered the Commons on the family interest. Like his father, who was known as the ‘silent colonel’, he appeared to take little interest in Commons debates throughout his twenty-five years in Parliament, though, owing to his family’s extensive wealth and influence, his position was unassailable.

At the 1847 general election Lowther came forward for Cumberland West, where his family owned extensive property, including the port and mining district of Whitehaven. Lowther was unabashed about his family’s political pretensions, insisting that ‘the position and property of his family in the two counties entitled them to use their influence’.4The Times, 13 Aug. 1847. His political platform revolved around his zealous advocacy of the ‘Protestant character of our public institutions’ and his defence of British producers. He therefore denounced any attempt to ‘elevate Romanism into a higher power in this country’ and although admitting he would give the ‘free-trade system a fair trial’, he declared that he would also give ‘the agricultural and labour interest those compensations to which they were entitled by reason of the late government’s submission to the Anti-Corn Law League’.5Kendal Mercury, 24 July 1847; Daily News, 14 Aug. 1847. He was elected without opposition.

Like his father, Lowther was an occasional attender who made no known speeches. He is also not known to have served on any select committees.6In the 1849 session he was present for 22 out of 219 divisions: Hampshire Telegraph, 20 Oct. 1849. In the 1853 session he was present for 35 out of 257 divisions: Daily News, 21 Sept. 1853. On the rare occasions when he troubled the division lobby, he was unwaveringly loyal to the Conservative party. His unambiguous dislike of any legislation that could be seen to weaken the Protestant character of public institutions was evident when he voted against the Roman Catholic relief bill, 8 Dec. 1847, and the Jewish disabilities bill, 17 Dec. 1847. Reflecting his desire to defend the agricultural interest, he was in the minority for the motion to reconsider the corn laws, 14 May 1850.

Re-elected unopposed at the 1852 general election, on the hustings he attacked the late Russell ministry for injuring the shipping interest and reiterated that he was ‘an enemy to concessions to the Court of Rome’.7Morning Post, 15 July 1852. He was in the minority for Disraeli’s budget, 16 Dec. 1852, and during Aberdeen’s coalition government, backed Roebuck’s motion for an inquiry into the condition of the army, 29 Jan. 1855. He rarely attended the Commons during Palmerston’s first administration, but was present to support Disraeli’s motion criticising the Crimean war, 25 May 1855, and vote for Cobden’s censure motion on Canton, 3 Mar. 1857.8Lowther was present for only 10 out of 198 divisions in the 1856 session: 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), 4.

At the 1857 general election Lowther attacked Palmerston’s conduct in foreign policy, but maintaining his unwavering defence of the established church, he reserved the majority of his invective for Maynooth college, describing it as ‘nothing but a hotbed of sedition’.9Carlisle Journal, 3 Apr. 1857. Returned without opposition, he supported the short-lived Derby ministry’s reform bill, 31 Mar. 1859, although at the 1859 general election, he stated that he had ‘strongly objected to many clauses’ in the bill, but owing to the ‘quiet state of the public mind and the general prosperity of the country’, he had voted for a second reading.10Ibid., 3 May 1859. However, he had little time for a sweeping reform of the electoral system. He attacked John Bright’s proposals, which would ‘set class against class’, and vehemently opposed the ballot, declaring that ‘I think the man who requires [it] is not fit to have a vote at all’.11Ibid. Once again re-elected without a contest, he voted against Locke King’s county franchise bill, 13 Mar. 1861, and followed Disraeli into the division lobbies on most major issues.

Re-elected unopposed at the 1865 general election, Lowther poured scorn on the late Liberal government’s foreign policy, accusing Russell of ‘continually bullying small states, and knocking under large ones, and of meddling with things he had better leave alone’.12Ibid., 18 July 1865. Following his insistence that ‘the country did not require a reform bill’, he voted against the Russell ministry’s proposals on the issue, 27 Apr. 1866, and opposed the government on the motion of no confidence, 18 June 1866.13Ibid. When present thereafter in the Commons, he voted with Disraeli on the major clauses of the representation of the people bill and opposed Gladstone’s resolution on the Irish church, 3 Apr. 1868.

Lowther successfully defended his seat against Liberal opposition at the 1868 general election, and maintained his staunch opposition to the disestablishment of the Irish church. In March 1872 he succeeded his uncle, William Lowther, as third earl of Lonsdale, inheriting his family’s vast properties in Cumberland and Westmorland. He died, following a period of ‘very indifferent health’, at Whitehaven Castle in August 1876,14Nottinghamshire Guardian, 18 Aug. 1876. leaving estate valued at under £140,000.15England and Wales, National Probate Calendar, Index of wills and administration, 1861-1941, 27 Apr. 1867. He was succeeded in the earldom by his eldest son, St George Henry, who shared his father’s passion for racehorses. Beset by alcoholism, he died in 1882, and was succeeded by Lowther’s second eldest son, Hugh Cecil, a gregarious huntsman and sportsman, who played a leading role in establishing boxing as a recognised sport.16D. Sutherland, The yellow earl: the life of Hugh Lowther, fifth earl of Lonsdale (1965). Lowther’s nephew, 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.