GOrges Lowther

Gorges Lowther was born in Ireland in 1759, the son of a cadet branch of the Irish baronetcy, and related to the Earls of Lonsdale. His father, Gorges Lowther MP (1739, Kilrue, Co. Meath - 18 AUG 1784, Kilrue, Meath, Ireland) of Kilrue, m. Frances Brabazon-Ponsonby (1749–1802), the daughter of Chambre Brabazon-Ponsonby (1729–1762) and Elizabeth Clarke (1730–1758). His siblings included Rev. Chambre Brabazon Ponsonby Lowther (1775–1830), Rector of Orcheston, Wiltshire; Sophia Jane Lowther (1776–1838), and Juliana Lowther (1781–1847). Their extended family included numbers of prominent Anglican clergy, magistrates, and other gentry. Gorges Sr was one of the longest serving MPs in the Irish Parliament, and known for his anti-Catholic opinions - indeed, some commentators suggest that by opposing Catholic relief, he was among the Protestant justices of the peace most hated for representing the English supremacy in Ireland.

Lowther was educated at Winchester School, before progressing to the Military College at Angers in France, where the Duke of Wellington had earlier studied. He would maintain strong ties with France, in particular with the Protestant communities there. Gazetted cornet in the British Army with the Fifth Dragoon Guards (recently changed from 'The 2nd Irish Horse'), he returned to Ireland after his father's death. He sold Kilrue, but eventually served (mainly in absentia, critics implied), like both his father and his grandfather, as Member of the Irish Parliament, representing Ratoath in the Irish House of Commons from 1790 to 1798. It has been claimed that he largely saw the seat as an asset rather than as a public service, but his interest in practical matters (such the killing of lambs, and navigable Canals) display a practical imagination knit closely to the land and the interests of the squirearchy (Irish Parliament 1788). During the uprising of 1798, he saw service again with the Guards (which fought at the battles of Arklow, Vinegar Hill and Ballinamuck). When Ratoath (by then represented by his delegate, James Cane) was disenfranchised under the Act of Union (1800), he received a significant compensation payment. Lowther moved to Hampshire (where he had estates), and remained commandant of a troop of volunteer cavalry (the Fawley Troop of Yeoman Cavalry). As was expected of the landed class, he was involved in variety of social causes, including (in 1829) as one of the founding Trustees of the Hospital of St John, Winchester, when it was wrested from the hands of a City Corporation which was found to be using its funds for other purposes.

Lowther was opinionated and a controversialist. In 1805, he appeared before the courts on a libel charge, and was fined 100L. (Lowther 1805) Gilly relays the story that on one of his many trips to Europe, Lowther found the Protestants of Geneva at odds with a Catholic apologist (Ferrari) over the cult of the saints. Visiting the Waldensian Moderator, Peyran, in the valleys of Piedmont, Lowther discovered that the Waldensian had penned a reply, but could not afford to print it. Lowther took it on himself to have it published, crowing over its 'keen and cutting' effect on Catholic polemics. In 1821, his account of his journey (published Brief Observations on the Present State of the Waldenses, and upon their actual sufferings, made in the summer of 1820. London, 1821) contributed to the growing interest in the Waldensian cause sparked by Thomas Sims' account in 1815. It was, noted Gilly, an 'uncommonly spirited production', which Lowther himself translated and had printed in Italian, and which was absorbed into later accounts, such as Gilly's own Narrative of an Excursion (1825), and Charles Augustin Coquerel's Notice Sur L'etat Actuel Des Eglises Vaudoises, Protestantes Des Vallées Du Piémont (Paris 1822). Lowther also began to organize support for the Waldensians, first in a small fund raised with the help of John Scandrett Harford, and then joining the Venerable Waldensian Committee of London chaired by the Archbishop of Canterbury. He continued to engage in anti-Catholic polemics of his own. In 1827 he gave a speech on 'Protestant and Popish Missionaries Contrasted' to the Church Missionary Society meeting at Wareham, in Dorset, in a meeting chaired by John Hales Calcraft, the local MP. In 1840, he printed a Protestant riposte to the popular pro-Catholic novel by E. C. Agnew, Geraldine, A Tale of Conscience (1837-39). His Gerald: A Tale of Conscience (1840) was, however, nowhere near as successful as Agnew's work.

In 1854, Lowther died at his residence, Hampton Hall, in Somersetshire. By his first wife, Julia (m 1 July 1794), the daughter of the Rev. Thomas Huntingford D.D., and neice of George Huntingford, Bishop of Hereford, he was survived by 9 children (five sons and four daughters). He married a second time, also to a Julia, the daughter of Rev. Walter Trevelyan. At least two sons (Ponsonby and Beresford) were ordained to the ministry, and another (Marcus) retired with the rank of Rear-Admiral in the British Navy. After the death of her first husband, Lowther's youngest daughter, Maud, married Auguste des Champs de la Tour.

Mark Hutchinson

Sources:

1805. The Proceedings at large in the Court of King's Bench, in the cause the King against G. Lowther for a libel on J. T. Batt, Esq., Winchester: for the author.

1821. De l'autorité de la mission de Jésus-Christ, et particulièrement de la divinité de sa personne. Genève.

1821. Brief Observations on the Present State of the Waldenses, and upon their actual sufferings, made in the summer of 1820. London.

1827. Protestant and Popish missionaries contrasted, Dorchester: Zillwood.

1840. Gerald; a tale of conscience. London.

1840. The Mass Discovered in the Scriptures! By the author of Gerald [i.e. Gorges Lowther, or rather translated by him from La Messe trouvée dans l'Escriture by Lucas Jansse? or David Derodon?]. London: J. W. Parker.

1847. Abjurations from Popery: with introductory matter on the errors of the Church of Rome. [Compiled by G. Lowther.] London: M. Sharpe; Bath: Binns & Goodwin, 1847.

Sources:

Bolton, G. C. (1966). The passing of the Irish act of union: a study in parliamentary politics. London: Oxford University Press.

Deverell, John (1879). St. John's hospital and other charities in Winchester, London: Davis & Son.

Lowther, Gorges. (1805). The Proceedings at Large in the Court of King's Bench..., Winchester: for the author.

Irish Parliament. (1788). The journals of the House of Commons of the kingdom of Ireland, Vol. 12: 1788, Dublin: George Grierson, printer to the King.