John Lowther, 1st Viscount Lonsdale, PC FRS (25 April 1655 – 10 July 1700), known as Sir John Lowther, 2nd Baronet, from 1675 to 1696, was an English politician.
Contents
Early life
He was born at Hackthorpe Hall, Lowther, Westmorland, the son of Col. John Lowther of Lowther (the eldest son of Sir John Lowther, 1st Baronet) and his wife, Elizabeth Bellingham, daughter of Sir Henry Bellingham, 1st Baronet, of Hilsington, Westmoreland.
He was educated at Sedbergh School before admission to Queen's College, Oxford, where he matriculated in 1670. He was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1671 and called to the Bar in 1677.
Career
Prior to his creation as a viscount in 1696, Lowther had succeeded his grandfather 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.
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.
