John Lowther, 1st Viscount Lonsdale
John Lowther, 1st Viscount Lonsdale, PC, (25 April 1655 – 10 July 1700[1]), known as Sir John Lowther, 2nd Baronet, from 1675 to 1696, was an English politician.
He was born at Hackthorpe Hall, Lowther, Westmorland, the son of Colonel John Lowther of Lowther and his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Henry Bellingham, Bart, of Hilsington, Westmoreland. He was educated at Kendal Grammar School and Sedbergh School before admission to Queen's College, Oxford (matriculated 1670). He was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1671 and called to the Bar in 1677.[2] Prior to his creation as a viscount in 1696 John had succeeded his grandfather, another Sir John Lowther (1605–1675), as a baronet, and was twice member of parliament for Westmorland between 1677 and 1696. In 1688 he was serviceable in securing Cumberland and Westmorland for King William III, and was appointed to the Privy Council in 1689. In 1690 he was first lord of the treasury, and he was Lord Privy Seal from March 1699 until his death. He was badly injured in a duel in 1691.
On 3 December 1674, he married Lady Katherine Thynne (d. bef. 1713), daughter of Sir Henry Frederick Thynne, 1st Baronet. They had children:
- Richard Lowther, 2nd Viscount Lonsdale (d. 1713)
- Henry Lowther, 3rd Viscount Lonsdale (d. 1751)
- Hon. Mary Lowther (c.1676 – 16 April 1706), married in February 1692 Sir John Wentworth, 1st Bt., of North Elmsall. Mary is buried in Bath Abbey, Somerset where she is commemorated by a fine marble memorial on the south wall of the chancel.
- Hon. Elizabeth Lowther, married on 6 August 1695 Sir William Ramsden, 2nd Baronet
- Hon. Margaret Lowther (d. 15 September 1728), married on 20 April 1706 Sir Joseph Pennington, 2nd Baronet
- Hon. Barbara Lowther (d. 1716), married c.1703 Thomas Howard of Corby (d. 1740)
- Hon. Anthony Lowther (d. 1741)
- Hon. Jane Lowther (d. 1752), unmarried
He died at Lowther in 1700 and was buried in Lowther churchyard. His branch of the Lowther family became extinct when his son Henry, the 3rd viscount (1694–1751), died unmarried in March 1751.
Lonsdale wrote in 1688 a brief account of events from the accession of James II to the landing of the Prince of Orange at Torbay, which was later printed as Memoirs of the Reign of James II (in 1808 (for private circulation) and again in 1857. The Memoirs reveal no more of Lonsdale's part in events than his public utterances.[3]
Notes
- ^ "J. V. Beckett, 'Lowther, John, first Viscount Lonsdale (1655–1700)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004". Retrieved 23 July 2008.
- ^ http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqSearch=%28Surname=%27lowther%27%29&dsqPos=2
- ^ Richard Saul Ferguson (1871). Cumberland and Westmorland M. P.'s from the Restoration to the Reform Bill of 1867, (1660-1867.). C. Thurnam and Sons. p. 403.
References
- Use dmy dates from January 2012
- 1655 births
- 1700 deaths
- People from Westmorland
- Fellows of the Royal Society
- Lord-Lieutenants of Cumberland
- Lord-Lieutenants of Westmorland
- Lords Privy Seal
- Members of the Privy Council of England
- Lowther family
- English MPs 1661–1679
- English MPs 1679
- Duellists
- English MPs 1681
- English MPs 1685–1687
- English MPs 1689–1690
- English MPs 1690–1695
- English MPs 1695–1698
- Viscounts Lonsdale
- Peers of England created by William III