LOWTHER, Hon. Henry Cecil (1790-1867).

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1812 - 6 Dec. 1867

Family and Education

b. 27 July 1790, 2nd s. of Sir William Lowther, 2nd Bt.* by Lady Augusta Fane, da. of John Fane, 9th Earl of Westmorland; bro. of William Lowther, Visct. Lowther*. educ. Westminster. m. 19 May 1817, Lady Lucy Eleanor Sherard, da. of Philip Sherard*, 5th Earl of Harborough, 3s. 3da.

Offices Held

Cornet, 7 Drag. 1807, lt. 1808, capt. 1810; maj. 41 Ft. Apr. 1814; maj. 10 Drag. Nov. 1814; lt.-col. 12 Ft. 1817, half-pay 1818, ret. 1830; maj. commdt. Westmld, yeoman cav. 1819, lt.-col. commdt. 1821; col. commdt. R. Cumb. militia 1830.

Biography

Lowther filled one of his family’s county seats for over 50 years. The opening years of his parliamentary career were, like the remainder, unexceptional. Recalled to the Peninsula for a second period of service after his first session in the House, he urged his father to procure him promotion to a majority in one of the West Indies regiments which he would not have to join as long as he remained in Parliament, but he stayed abroad until 1815.1 In the House, in common with all his family, he gave silent support to Liverpool’s administration and opposed Catholic relief. He emerged unscathed from the Westmorland election of 1818, protected by his family and his elder brother, Viscount Lowther, who took care of his promotions and of his attendance in the House.2 Dorothy Wordsworth, whom he visited soon after the election, wrote to her friend Catherine Clarkson (18 Sept.) that although ‘a fine brave fellow’ he was ‘painfully shy ... like a rustic from one of our mountain vales’.3 This shyness and a distaste for public speaking persisted all his life.4 He died Father of the House, 4 Dec. 1867.

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: J. M. Collinge

Notes

  • 1. HMC Lonsdale, 234-44.
  • 2. Lonsdale mss, Lowther to Lonsdale, 16 Oct. 1816, 4 Dec. 1819.
  • 3. Letters of Wm. and Dorothy Wordsworth, The Middle Years ed. de Selincourt, ii. 823.
  • 4. J. W. Lowther, A Speaker’s Commentaries, i. 10-11.