George Lowe (c. 1594 – 19 November 1682) was an English politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

at various times between 1640 and 1679. He was an equivocal supporter of the

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governm ...

cause in the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. Lowe was the second surviving son of Richard Lowe, a barrister of Shrewsbury and Calne and his second wife Mary Wootton, daughter of Charles Wotton, merchant, of Salisbury, Wiltshire and widow of John Vennard of Salisbury. His father was MP for Calne in 1614 and his uncle George Lowe, a London merchant, represented the town from 1625 to 1629. He came into his mother's property at Calne in 1640. History of Parliament Online - George Lowe
/ref> In November 1640, Lowe was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

Calne Calne () is a town and civil parish in Wiltshire, southwestern England,OS Explorer Map 156, Chippenham and Bradford-on-Avon Scale: 1:25 000.Publisher: Ordnance Survey A2 edition (2007). at the northwestern extremity of the North Wessex Downs ...

in the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

. During the Civil War he supported the Royalist cause and sat at the parliament in Oxford. He later claimed that he acted under duress, and that he was not party to the vote declaring the Parliamentarian members at Westminster to be traitors. He was disabled from sitting at Westminster on 5 February 1644, but as a result of his voluntary and early surrender to

Edward Massey Sir Edward Massey () was an English soldier and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1646 and 1674. He fought for the Parliamentary cause for the first and second English Civil Wars before changing allegiance and ...

, he was treated leniently by the committee for compounding and was fined at a tenth instead of a third of his estate. On release in 1646 he became a J.P. for Oxfordshire until 1653. He was commissioner for assessment for Oxfordshire from 1649 to 1652. After the Restoration, Lowe became J.P. for Wiltshire from July 1660 and commissioner for assessment for Wiltshire from August 1660, holding both roles until 1663. He was commissioner for assessment for Oxford from 1661 to 1679. In 1661 he was elected MP for Calne again in the

Cavalier Parliament The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. It was the longest English Parliament, and longer than any Great British or UK Parliament to date, enduring for nearly 18 years of the quarter-century reign of C ...

. He was commissioner for corporations for Wiltshire from 1662 to 1663. In 1665, he was bailiff of Oxford and served as assistant bailiff from 1666 until his death. He was Clerk of petty bag from 1666 to 1680. In 1673 he became commissioner for assessment for Wiltshire until 1680 and also commissioner for assessment for Salisbury for a year. He was commissioner for recusants for Wiltshire in 1675. Lowe died at the age of 88 according to his memorial in St Aldate's Church, Oxford, which has the inscription "he exerted himself for forty years, more or less, in the illustrious court of senators (commonly called Parliament) no less to the approbation of individuals than to the advantage of the public" Lowe married twice, having no children from his first wife. He married secondly in about 1651 Jane Drake widow of Acton Drake of Shorthampton Lodge, Charlbury, Oxfordshire and daughter of Martin Wright, goldsmith of Oxford. She died on 9 September 1655 after the birth of a son. He bequeathed his houses in Oxford and Salisbury to his nephew Sir Edward Lowe, master in Chancery

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowe, George 1590s births 1682 deaths Year of birth uncertain Cavaliers People from Calne Politicians from Wiltshire English MPs 1640–1648 Oxford Parliaments English MPs 1661–1679