SIR WILLIAM LOWTHER 2nd Earl of Lonsdale Viscount and Saron Lowther (1787 - 1872)
Sir William Lowther, politican and aristocrat, born on July 21, 1787, at Uffington, Linconshire, was the eldest son of William, Viscount Lowther and afterwards 1st Earl of Lonsdale. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge, from where he graduated in 1808. He entered parliament as M.P. for Cockermouth, but changed to Westmorland in 1813, although this entailed him in close contests with Henry, Lord Brougham in 1818, 1820 and 1826. His opposition to the reform movement forced him to sit for the borough of Dunwich in 1831, but he returned to Westmorland in 1832. Lowther began his political life under Perceval's administration, and succeeded Palmerston as junior Lord of the Admiralty in 1809. During the years 1813 to 1826 he was on the board of the Treasury and was made first commissioner of woods and forests by the Duke of Wellington in 1828. Under Sir Robert Peel's short administration in 1834-5, Lowther was post-master general, and became a member of the Cabinet in 1841, but was raised to the House of Lords on 6 September in that year, in his father's Barony. He succeeded to the earldom in 1844, held the office of president of council in 1852 and is supposed to have refused a Garter from Lord Derby in the same year. Although a good business man, Lowther was not considered a great orator and in fact introduced little in the way of legislation to the House. However, the influence of his family, and their considerable wealth, made him an important man in his party, and tory groups islet frequently at his London home in Carlton Terrace. As the landlord of the family estates in Westmorland and Cumberland, the earl showed considerable foresight. He spent vast sums on draining the land, and was a patron of Macadam, the paved road maker. At his death he was in fact chairman of the Metropolitan Road Commission. A patron of both sport and the arts, his horse Spaniel won the Derby in 1831, he paid large subsidies for the maintenance of Italian opera in London, and was a great collector of porcelain. The Earl of Lonsdale died at his house in Carlton Terrrace on 4th March 1872, his obituary and the portrait shown opposite appearing in the Illustrated London News of 16 March 1872.