LOWTHER, Anthony (1641-93), of Marske, Yorks. and Walthamstow, Essex.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Mar. 1679
Oct. 1679

Family and Education

bap. 15 May 1641, and but 1st surv. s. of Robert Lowther, Draper, of London by 2nd w. Elizabeth, da. of William Holcroft of Basingstoke, Hants. m. 15 Feb. 1667, Margaret (d. 5 Dec. 1719), da. of (Sir) William Penn of Walthamstow, 6s. (2 d.v.p.) 3da. suc. fa. 1655.1

Offices Held

Commr. for assessment, Yorks. (N. Riding) 1661-80, 1689-90, Essex 1663-4, Westmld. 1679-80; j.p. Yorks. (N. Riding) 1662-bef. 1680, Feb. 1688-?d.; freeman, Hartlepool 1671.2

FRS 1663-82.

Biography

Lowther’s father, the youngest son of a large family, became a London merchant. Although he was named by the Long Parliament as one of the sequestrators of his parish church and to a charitable committee during the Civil War, he complained of their proceedings and was probably out of sympathy with their cause. In 1649, together with his nephew, Sir John Lowther I, he bought Marske for £13,000 and developed the alum deposits. He served briefly as alderman in 1650-1. Lowther received a great portion with his plain wife, and their life-style attracted the envy of Samuel Pepys, who watched them closely for venereal symptoms. He was first nominated for Appleby on the family interest in 1668, but was very ready to withdraw in favour of Joseph Williamson. But in 1679 he was brought in by his cousin, Sir John Lowther III. Shaftesbury marked him ‘honest’, but he probably paired with his colleague Richard Tufton for the division on the exclusion bill. Though he was re-elected in September he left no trace on the records of either Parliament. He refused to stand in 1681 and retired into private life. His reappointment to the North Riding commission of the peace in February 1688 was no doubt due to his brother-in-law, William Penn. He died on 27 Jan. 1693 and was buried at Walthamstow. His son was created a baronet in 1697 and sat for Lancaster in the first Parliament of Queen Anne.3

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: Leonard Naylor

Notes

  • 1. Trans. Cumb. and Westmld. Antiq. and Arch. Soc. n.s. xliv. 103, 107-12; Vis. Hants (Harl. Soc. lxiv), 197.
  • 2. Add. 29674, f. 161; C. Sharp, Hist. Hartlepool, 72.
  • 3. Cal. Comm. Adv. Money, 668-9; R. B. Turton, Alum Farm, 191; Trans. Cumb. and Westmld. Antiq. and Arch. Soc. n.s. xliv. 102; Pepys Diary, 28 July 1661, 15 Feb., 15 May, 13 Sept. 1667; CSP Dom. 1667-8, pp. 174, 213; Westmld. RO, D/Ry2129, Lowther to Fleming, 30 Jan. 1679; Cumb. RO, LW2/D10, Lowther to Lowther, 22 Jan. 1681; Mon. Inscriptions (Walthamstow Antiq. Soc. xxvii), 19.