Charles Rathbone Low (1837–1918) was a British officer of the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates sig ...

and writer.

Background

The son of Major John Handcock Low of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

and of the 39th Bengal Native Infantry, he was born in Dublin, in 1837. His father was killed in 1849 at

Rajmahal Rajmahal is a subdivisional town and a notified area in Rajmahal subdivision of the Sahebganj district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is situated at the banks of Ganges and was former capital of Bengal Subah under Mughal governor, Man Sin ...

. He was born in 1805, the youngest son of William John Low of Lowville,

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

, and his wife the Hon. Sophie Hamilton, daughter of

Richard Hamilton, 4th Viscount Boyne Richard Hamilton, 4th Viscount Boyne (24 March 1724 – 30 July 1789) was an Irish peer and politician. After serving in the Royal Navy and Irish House of Commons, he inherited the viscountcy from his Frederick Hamilton, 3rd Viscount Boyne i ...

; he married Emily Revell in 1830, and she died in 1847. He married again, in 1848, to Clementina Clara Jane Hockley, daughter of Joseph Hockley. William Low, who served with the 67th Regiment of Foot, was the son of Nathaniel Low(e) of Lowville, who married Jane Handcock. She was the daughter of Robert Handcock, brother of Dean Richard Hancock, and his wife Jane Blackburne.

Life

Charles Rathbone Low was taken to India when a few months old, and attended school in

Simla Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India. After independence, the ...

. He returned to live in England at the age of seven, and was orphaned. Low joined the East India Company's Navy in 1853, and took part in the suppression of piracy and slave trading in the Indian and China Seas, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and off the East Coast of Africa. He wrote in his ''History of the Indian Navy'' of serving in the HCS ''Mahi''; he was a midshipman on her from 1855, and rose to the rank of lieutenant. When the Navy was closed down in 1863, Low became a professional writer, in England. He was the first Librarian and Assistant Secretary of the

Royal United Service Institution The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI, Rusi), registered as Royal United Service Institute for Defence and Security Studies and formerly the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies, is a British defence and security think tank. ...

, 1865–68. He represented the Indian Navy at the Jubilee Service of Empress Victoria, 1887 and other royal events.

Works

Low published books in a number of genres. He was also a prolific author of magazine articles. He began his writing career with a mixture of juvenile adventure stories and factual articles in ''

Cassell's Magazine ''Cassell's Magazine'' is a British magazine that was published monthly from 1897 to 1912. It was the successor to ''Cassell's Illustrated Family Paper'', (1853–1867) becoming ''Cassell's Family Magazine'' in 1874, ''Cassell's Magazine'' in 1897 ...

'', ''

Chamber's Journal ''Chambers's Edinburgh Journal'' was a weekly 16-page magazine started by William Chambers in 1832. The first edition was dated 4 February 1832, and priced at one penny. Topics included history, religion, language, and science. William was soo ...

'', ''

The Leisure Hour ''The Leisure Hour'' was a British general-interest periodical of the Victorian era which ran weekly from 1852 to 1905. It was the most successful of several popular magazines published by the Religious Tract Society, which produced Christian lite ...

'', ''

The Quiver ''The Quiver'' (18611956) was a weekly magazine published by Cassell's and was "designed for the defence and promotion of biblical truth and the advance of religion in the homes of the people." History John Cassell (18171865), the English publ ...

'' and '' Routledge's Magazine for Boys''. Tucker calls him an "indefatigable exhibitor of national kudos", as well as "a patriotic crank of the old school".

Geographical

Low was a Referee for the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

, of which he was a Fellow. ''The Land of the Sun'' (1870) was travel writing, with the full subtitle of ''Sketches of Travel, with Memoranda, Historical and Geographical, of Places of Interest in the East''. He worked on ''The India Directory, for the guidance of commanders of steamers and sailing vessels'' (from 1874) of

Alfred Dundas Taylor Alfred Dundas Taylor (1825–1898) was head of the Marine Survey Department of the Admiralty of the United Kingdom. Life He was born on 30 August 1825 in England, son of George Ledwell Taylor (1788–1873), who worked as an architect to the Admi ...

, another former Indian Navy officer, a replacement for the work on charts of

James Horsburgh James Horsburgh (28 September 176214 May 1836) was a Scottish hydrographer. He worked for the British East India Company, (EIC) and mapped many seaways around Singapore in the late 18th century and early 19th century. Life Born at Elie, Fife, Hor ...

Historical

* ''The Great Battles of the British Navy'' (1872) * ''The Great Battles of the British Army'' (1885), with

Henry Yule Sir Henry Yule (1 May 1820 – 30 December 1889) was a Scottish Oriental studies, Orientalist and geographer. He published many travel books, including translations of the work of Marco Polo and ''Mirabilia'' by the 14th-century Dominican ...

*''History of the Indian Navy'' (1877, 2 vols.), originally published in 1876–7 in parts, in ''Colburn's United Service Magazine''. *''Maritime Discovery: A History of Nautical Discovery from the Earliest Times'' (1882, 2 vols.) *''Captain Cook's Three Voyages'' (1892)

Biographies

*''Soldiers of the Victorian Age'' (1880, 2 vols.) *''Life and Correspondence of Field-Marshall Sir G. Pollock, Bart.'' (1873), on

Sir George Pollock, 1st Baronet Field Marshal Sir George Pollock, 1st Baronet (4 June 1786 – 6 October 1872) was a British Indian Army officer. He first saw action at the Battle of Deeg and at the Siege of Bhurtpore during the Second Anglo-Maratha War before taking part ...

. *''A Memoir of Lieutenant-General Sir Garnet J. Wolseley'' (1878, 2 vols.), on

Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley Field Marshal Garnet Joseph Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley, (4 June 183325 March 1913), was an Anglo-Irish officer in the British Army. He became one of the most influential and admired British generals after a series of successes in Canada, We ...

. *''The Afghan War, 1838–1842; from the Journal and Correspondence of the Late Major-General Augustus Abbott'' (1879), on

Augustus Abbott Major-General Augustus Abbott (7 January 1804 – 25 February 1867) was an army officer in the British East India Company. He was the eldest of several prominent brothers. He served in various military campaigns including the First Anglo-Afghan Wa ...

. *''Sir F. S. Roberts: A Memoir'' (1883) on

Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, (30 September 1832 – 14 November 1914) was a British Victorian era general who became one of the most successful British military commanders of his time. Born in India to an Anglo-Iri ...

*''Memoir of Major-General J. T. Boileau'' (1887), with preface by

*''Great African Travellers'', with

William Henry Giles Kingston William Henry Giles Kingston (28 February 1814 – 5 August 1880), often credited as W. H. G. Kingston, was an English writer of boys' adventure novels. Life William Henry Giles Kingston was born in Harley Street, London on 28 February 1814. H ...

Fiction

*''Tales of Old Ocean'' (1869) *''The Adventures of Joshua Hawsepipe, Master Mariner: A Tale of the Sea and Land'' (1869) *''Tales of Naval Adventure'' (1872) *''The Letter of Marque and Tales of the Sea and Land'' (1873) *''The Autobiography of a Man-o'-War's Bell: A Tale of the Sea'' (1875) *''Cyril Hamilton: His Adventures by Sea and Land'' (1885)

Poetry

Tucker writes of Low's "fleet of 1890s epics". *''Old England's Navy. An epic of the sea'' (1891) *''Cressy to Tel-El-Kebir: A Narrative Poem, Descriptive of the Deeds of the British Army'' (1892) *''Britannia's Bulwarks: An historical poem descriptive of the deeds of the British Navy'' (1895) *''The Epic of Olympus: A Narrative Poem Descriptive of the Deeds of the Deities and Heroes of Greek Mythology'' (1897)

Family

Low married in 1861 Catherine Charlotte Boileau, daughter of

John Theophilus Boileau Major General John Theophilus Boileau (26 May 1805 – 7 November 1886) was a British army engineer who worked in India. He was involved in restoration of Mughal monuments including the Taj Mahal; designed several buildings in India including Ch ...

, and they had 13 children. The children included sons Hamilton John Windsor Low and Gustavus Edward Boileau Low, and daughters Emily Elizabeth Wetherall, Jane, and Elizabeth Margaret Thorp.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Low, Charles Rathbone 1837 births 1918 deaths British East India Company Marine personnel British historians British male novelists 19th-century British novelists