William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale
Encyclopedia
Order of the Garter
The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...
(29 December 1757 – 19 March 1844) was a British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
Tory
Tory
Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...
politician and nobleman.
Life
William Lowther was the son of Sir William Lowther, 1st BaronetSir William Lowther, 1st Baronet, of Little Preston
Sir William Lowther, 1st Baronet was an English landowner and curate, of Little Preston, Yorkshire.The eldest son of Christopher Lowther and grandson of Sir William Lowther, he went to school in Kirkleatham before entering Trinity College, Cambridge in 1726...
, of Little Preston and Swillington
Swillington
Swillington is a small village and civil parish near Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough. It is located east of the River Aire and surrounded by streams including Fleakingley Beck. As of 2001, Swillington had a population of about 3,530.Swillington used to be a...
, and his wife Anne Zouch. He was educated at Westminster School
Westminster School
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...
and Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
. Lowther was briefly MP for Appleby
Appleby (UK Parliament constituency)
Appleby was a parliamentary constituency in the former county of Westmorland in England. It existed for two separate periods: from 1295 to 1832, and from 1885 to 1918....
in 1780, MP for Carlisle
Carlisle (UK Parliament constituency)
Carlisle is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election. It was a Labour seat from 1964 until 2010, although the Conservatives came close to victory in the elections in...
from 1780 to 1784 and Cumberland
Cumberland (UK Parliament constituency)
Cumberland is a former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It was represented by two Knights of...
from 1784 to 1790.
On 12 July 1781, he married Lady Augusta Fane (d. 1838), daughter of John Fane, 9th Earl of Westmorland
John Fane, 9th Earl of Westmorland
John Fane, 9th Earl of Westmorland was an English earl. He succeeded his father the 8th Earl as Earl and as MP for Lyme Regis from 1762 .-Lord Burghersh:...
. They had six children:
- William Lowther, 2nd Earl of LonsdaleWilliam Lowther, 2nd Earl of LonsdaleWilliam Lowther, 2nd Earl of Lonsdale PC, FRS , styled Viscount Lowther between 1807 and 1844, was a British Tory politician.-Background:...
(1787–1872) - Henry Cecil Lowther (1790–1867)
- Lady Elizabeth Lowther (d. 12 February 1869), unmarried
- Lady Mary Lowther (d. 21 October 1863), married on 16 September 1820 Maj. Gen. Lord Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck (d. 1828)
- Lady Anne Lowther (d. 8 November 1863, married on 20 January 1817 Sir John Beckett, 2nd BaronetSir John Beckett, 2nd BaronetSir John Beckett, 2nd Baronet, FRS was a British lawyer and Tory politician.Beckett was the son of Sir John Beckett, 1st Baronet , and his wife Mary, daughter of Christopher Wilson...
- Lady Grace Caroline Lowther (d. 1 November 1883), married on 3 July 1815 William Vane, 3rd Duke of ClevelandWilliam Vane, 3rd Duke of ClevelandWilliam John Frederick Vane, 3rd Duke of Cleveland , styled The Hon. William Vane from 1792 to 1813, The Hon...
In 1796, he was returned as Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Rutland
Rutland (UK Parliament constituency)
Rutland was a parliamentary constituency covering the county of Rutland. It was represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until 1918, when it became part of the Rutland and Stamford constituency, along with Stamford in Lincolnshire...
, holding the seat until 1802. In that year, he inherited by special remainder the titles of Viscount Lowther and Baron Lowther from his third cousin once removed, the Earl of Lonsdale
James Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale
Sir James Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale was the son of Robert Lowther and Catherine Pennington.He married Mary Crichton-Stuart, daughter of John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute and Mary Wortley-Montagu, 1st Baroness Mount Stuart on 7 September 1761.On 9 June 1792 he fought a duel with a Captain Cuthbert...
of the first creation, as well as his immense estates. He was also appointed to the northern Lord Lieutenancies of Cumberland and Westmorland. In 1807, Lowther was himself created Earl of Lonsdale
Earl of Lonsdale
Earl of Lonsdale is a title that has been created twice in British history, firstly in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1784 , and then in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1807, both times for members of the Lowther family....
and appointed a Knight of the Garter.
A coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
magnate, he spent £200,000 on the Lowther estate and built a new Lowther Castle
Lowther Castle
Lowther Castle is a country house in the historic county of Westmorland, which now forms part of the modern county of Cumbria, England. It has belonged to the Lowther family, latterly the Earls of Lonsdale, since the Middle Ages.- History :...
. A Tory
Tory
Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...
in politics, he seems to have been tolerant and well-liked, disdaining sabbatarianism and serving as patron for a number of painters and authors, including William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
. Lonsdale died at York House, Twickenham
York House, Twickenham
York House is an historic stately home in Twickenham, England, and currently serves as the Town Hall of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames...
in 1844. Lowther also enjoyed fox hunting
Fox hunting
Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase, and sometimes killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds, and a group of followers led by a master of foxhounds, who follow the hounds on foot or on horseback.Fox hunting originated in its current...
, serving as Master of the Cottesmore Hunt
Cottesmore Hunt
The Cottesmore Hunt, which hunts mostly in Rutland, is one of the oldest fox hunts in Britain. Its name comes from the village of Cottesmore where the hounds were kennelled.-History:...
from 1788 to 1802 and 1806 to 1842.