| The Lowthers are a medieval knightly family whose descent at Lowther can be traced back to the original pattern of sub-infeudation after the Norman Conquest. Their arms – Or Six Annulets Sable – are a variation on those of their overlords, the baronial Vetripont (or Vipont) family of Appleby Castle (Or Six Annuluts Gules). Both the arms and the family tree are documented from the late twelfth century making the Lowthers one of the oldest of recorded English armigerous families. The name is mentioned in grants of land from the time of Henry II. In the reign of Henry III, in the early thirteenth century, Thomas de Lowther was witness to the foundation charter of a chantry at Great Strickland. Gervase de Lowther (a younger brother) was archdeacon at Carlisle at that time. Sir Hugh de Lowther, Attorney General to Edward I and a Justice of the King's Bench, was the first of the family to be knighted. His successful legal career under Edward I firmly established his family, like other English aristocratic dynasties, notably the Howards of Norfolk (whose first knighted ancestor was Chief Justice of the Common Pleas under Edward I). |
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Every successive head of the Lowther family through the Middle Ages was knighted, often fighting for the King in Scotland, representing Westmorland in Parliament, serving as Sheriff of Cumberland, intermarrying with other great Northern families such as the Lucys of Cockermouth or the Cliffords of Appleby. In the seventeenth century various branches of the family were created baronets including the Lowthers of Lowther, the Lowthers of Whitehaven, and the Lowthers of Marske in Yorkshire. Sir John Lowther of Lowther in the late seventeenth century was a strong Whig and supporter of the Glorious Revolution, being suitably rewarded by William III under whom he served as Lord Privy Seal and was granted an annuity of £2,000 per annum. He was a pivotal figure in the family's history and was created 1st Viscount Lonsdale in 1696. He greatly increased the family estates buying the feudal barony of Burgh in Cumberland
(a former Greystoke and Dacre fief) from the Duke of Norfolk in 1685, as well as greatly enlarging and improving the Lowther estate itself. He established his family as the leading resident landed dynasty in Cumberland and Westmorland, and rebuilt Lowther Hall (as it was then called) and the surrounding gardens on a palatial scale to demonstrate his economic, social and political pre-eminence in the region. |
| He was succeeded as 2nd and 3rd Viscount, by his sons Richard and Henry, neither of whom married. The latter, like his father, served as Lord Privy Seal, as well as Lord Lieutenant of Cumberland and Westmorland. On his death in 1751, the viscounty became extinct so the estates were inherited by his cousin and male heir Sir James Lowther of Maulds Meaburn. Known as 'Wicked Jimmy', he wielded enormous political influence controlling nine parliamentary boroughs in the North West - the 'Lowther Ninepins'. He married Lady Mary Stuart, daughter of George III's unpopular prime minister, the Earl of Bute, whose Tory politics he supported. Much of the hostile contemporary criticism of him was no doubt dictated by party political interest. He was a patron of the younger William Pitt whose first parliamentary seat in 1781 was the Lowther borough of Appleby. As a reward for this, 'Wicked Jimmy' was created Earl of Lonsdale. |
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The 1st Earl of Lonsdale (of the first creation) inherited three fortunes, making him one of the richest men in eighteenth century England. From his father, who was Governor of Barbados, he inherited the Maulds Meaburn estate and a West Indian fortune, from his cousin, the 3rd Viscount, he inherited Lowther and large estates in Cumberland and Westmorland, but the key inheritance was that from another cousin Sir James Lowther of Whitehaven who died in 1755 leaving to him that town, and harbour with its flourishing trade with Ireland and the American colonies, and rich coal mines, as well as the enormous sum of £2,000,000 (equal to about a quarter of the annual value of British exports at that time). This made the 1st Earl vastly rich. He spent much of his new fortune on politics, getting heavily embroiled in election expenses, and also commissioned various unexecuted designs for a vast new palace at Lowther to replace the 1st Viscount's house which had burnt down in 1718, but failed to fulfil his potential, and died without legitimate children, the Earldom becoming extinct. To his contemporaries he seemed uncouth, mad, miserly and bad:
'Even by the elements his pow'r confessed/
of mines and Boroughs Lonsdale stands possessed/
and one sad servitude all alike denotes/
the slave that labours and the slave that votes.'
(The Rolliad). |
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