Name John 1st Died July 10, 1700 | Role Politician | |
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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.
He was born at Hackthorpe Hall, Lowther, Westmorland, the son of Colonel John Lowther of Lowther and his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Henry Bellingham, Bart, of Hilsington, Westmoreland. He was educated at Kendal Grammar School and Sedbergh School before admission to Queen's College, Oxford (matriculated 1670). He was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1671 and called to the Bar in 1677.
On 3 December 1674, he married Lady Katherine Thynne (d. bef. 1713), daughter of Sir Henry Frederick Thynne, 1st Baronet. They had children:
Prior to his creation as a viscount in 1696 John had succeeded his grandfather, another Sir John Lowther (1605–1675), 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.
On 20 December 1699, he was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society.His candidacy citation noted that he was "A Gentleman who is well acquainted with many of the works of Nature and Art, & who hath lately obliged the Society with Some Curious Experiments relating to the damps of Coal Mines",
He died at Lowther in 1700 and was buried in Lowther churchyard.
Lonsdale wrote Memoirs of the Reign of James II, which were printed in 1808 and again in 1857. His family became extinct when his son Henry, the 3rd viscount (1694–1751), died unmarried in March 1751.