Lowther Castle, North Front.
Sir Hugh de Lowther married Margaret, daughter of John de Derwentwater, by whom he left, with other issue, his son and successor, Sir Hugh de Lowther, Knight, who represented the county of Cumberland. He married Mabel, daughter of Sir William Lancaster, of Sockbridge, by whom he had a son and heir, Sir Hugh de Lowther, Knight of the Bath, who married Anne, daughter of Sir Launcelot Threlkeld, and died circa 1511.
Sir John de Lowther, his eldest son, succeeded him, and having married Lucy, daughter of Sir Thomas Curwen, of Workington, had issue by her a son, Sir Hugh, who, having married Dorothy, daughter of Henry, Lord Clifford, had issue as follows:—Sir Richard Lowther, who succeeded to the estates (of whom presently); Gerard Lowther, a bencher of Lincoln’s Inn; Margaret Lowther, married to John Richmond, Esq., of Highead Castle; Anne, married to Thomas Wybergh, Esq., of Clifton; Frances, married to Sir Henry Goodyer, Knight of Powlesworth; and Barbara, married to Thomas Carleton, of Carleton. Sir Hugh, dying during his father’s lifetime, the estates passed to his eldest son—
Sir Richard Lowther, Knight, who succeeded his cousin, Henry Lord Scrope, as Lord Warden of the West Marches. Sir Richard “was three times commissioner in the great affairs between England and Scotland under Elizabeth.” He had also the unfortunate and ill-fated Mary Queen of Scots under his charge, and conveyed her to Carlisle. He died in 1607, leaving with other issue, by his wife, Frances, daughter of John Middleton, Esq., four sons—viz. Sir Christopher (of whom presently); Sir Gerard Lowther, Chief Justice of Common Pleas and Lord Chancellor of Ireland; Sir Launcelot Lowther, Knight, a Baron of the Exchequer in Ireland; and William Lowther, Esq., of Ingleton.
Sir Christopher Lowther was knighted by King James at Newcastle-on-Tyne. He married Eleanor, daughter of Sir William Musgrave, of Hayton, by whom he had a family of eight sons and four daughters. He was succeeded by his son, Sir John Lowther, M.P. for Westmoreland (married to Eleanor, daughter of William Fleming, of Rydal), who, dying in 1637, was in turn succeeded by his son, Sir John Lowther, M.P. for the same county, who was created a baronet in 1640. Dying in 1675, he was succeeded by his grandson, Sir John Lowther, who was “the thirty-first knight of the family in nearly direct succession.” In 1689 he was made Lord-Lieutenant of Westmoreland and Cumberland, and the following year appointed First Commissioner of the Treasury. In 1696 Sir John was created Baron Lowther of Lowther and Viscount Lonsdale, and, in 1698, was made Lord Privy Seal, and held many other offices. Dying in 1700, he was succeeded in his titles and estates by his son—
Richard, second Viscount Lonsdale, who died in 1713, when the titles and estates devolved on his brother Henry, third Viscount Lonsdale, at whose death the barony of Lowther and viscountcy of Lonsdale ceased, the estates and baronetcy devolving upon his great-nephew, Sir James Lowther, eldest son of Robert Lowther, Esq., Governor of Barbadoes.
Sir James was M.P. for Cumberland and Westmoreland. In 1782 he offered to build and completely to furnish at his own expense a man-of-war of seventy guns, but the coming peace rendered this unnecessary. Sir James was, in 1784, created Baron Lowther of Lowther, Viscount Lowther, and Earl of Lonsdale. He married a daughter of the Earl of Bute, but, having no issue by her, his lordship, in 1797, obtained a new patent, creating him Baron and Viscount Lowther, with remainder to the heirs male of his cousin, the Rev. Sir William Lowther, Bart., of Swillington. Dying in 1802, the earldom and other titles of the first creation became extinct, those of the second patent descending to Sir William Lowther, who thus became Baron Lowther and Viscount Lowther, and was, in 1807, created Earl of Lonsdale. His lordship married the Lady Augusta Fane, daughter of John, ninth Earl of Westmoreland, by whom he had issue—William, Viscount Lowther, by whom he was succeeded; the Hon. Henry Cecil Lowther, M.P.; the Lady Elizabeth Lowther, who died unmarried; the Lady Mary Lowther, who married Major-general Lord Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck, third son of the third Duke of Portland, and was mother of Mr. G. A. F. Cavendish-Bentinck, M.P. for Whitehaven; the Lady Anne Lowther, married to the Right Hon. Sir John Beckett, Bart.; and the Lady Caroline Lowther, married to Lord William John Frederick Poulett, son of the Duke of Cleveland. Dying in 1844, the Earl was succeeded by his eldest son—
William, second Earl of Lonsdale, Viscount and Baron Lowther, and a baronet, who had been summoned to the House of Peers during his father’s lifetime as Baron Lowther. He had sat as M.P. for various places from 1801 to 1841, and, among other appointments, successively held those of a Lord of the Admiralty, a Lord of the Treasury, First Commissioner of Woods and Forests, Treasurer of the Navy, Vice-President of the Board of Trade, Postmaster-General, and President of Council. His lordship died unmarried on the 4th of March, 1872, and was succeeded by his nephew—