David Lowe (1867 – 18 November 1947) was a Scottish socialist activist. Born in Dundee, Lowe moved to

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

in his youth, where he worked closely with

Keir Hardie James Keir Hardie (15 August 185626 September 1915) was a Scottish trade unionist and politician. He was a founder of the Labour Party, and served as its first parliamentary leader from 1906 to 1908. Hardie was born in Newhouse, Lanarkshire. ...

, becoming the first assistant editor of the ''

Labour Leader The ''Labour Leader'' was a British socialist newspaper published for almost one hundred years. It was later renamed ''New Leader'' and ''Socialist Leader'', before finally taking the name ''Labour Leader'' again. 19th century The origins of the ...

'' newspaper. He returned to Dundee in 1888, still working for the newspaper, and becoming the leading figure in the Scottish Labour Party in the city. At the 1892 general election, he was the

election agent An election agent in elections in the United Kingdom, as well as some other similar political systems such as elections in India, is the person legally responsible for the conduct of a candidate's political campaign and to whom election material is ...

for James MacDonald's unsuccessful candidacy in Dundee. He subsequently joined the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

, and through that became a founding activist in the Labour Party. Lowe continued to write in support of the labour movement throughout his life, notably writing ''Souvenirs of Scottish Labour'' in 1919, a history of the Scottish Labour Party. He remained a close lifelong friend of Hardie's. Lowe was an accomplished writer, with many of his works kept at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow. He was an acknowledged expert on Robbie Burns, wrote poetry and plays and a biography of Keir Hardie. Works include 'From Pit to Parliament - the story of the early life of James Keir Hardie', 'A Scots Wanderjahre', 'Sonnets of Sweet Sorrow', 'Gift of the Night and Other Poems', 'Ballad of a Great City', 'A Man of Leisure - a play in three acts'. David Lowe married Annie Greig and they had two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowe, David 1867 births 1947 deaths People from Dundee Scottish socialists