Montagu William Lowry-Corry, 1st Baron Rowton, (8 October 1838 – 9 November 1903), also known as "Monty", was a British philanthropist and public servant, best known for serving as
Benjamin Disraeli's private secretary from 1866 until the latter's death in 1881.
Background and education
Born in Grosvenor Square, London,
Lowry-Corry was the second son of the Honourable
Henry Lowry-Corry by his wife Lady Harriet, daughter of
the 6th Earl of Shaftesbury. The social reformer,
the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, was his maternal uncle.
[thepeerage.com Montagu William Lowry-Corry, 1st and last Baron Rowton](_blank)
/ref> He was educated at Harrow and at Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...
, and was called to the Bar
The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...
in 1863. He practised for three years on the Oxford Circuit
The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes ex ...
.
Career
Lowry-Corry's father, a younger son of Somerset Lowry-Corry, 2nd Earl Belmore
Somerset Lowry-Corry, 2nd Earl Belmore (11 July 1774 – 18 April 1841), styled The Honourable from 1781 to 1797 and then known as Viscount Corry to 1802, was an Irish nobleman and politician.
Politics and inheritance
Lowry-Corry was the only ...
, represented County Tyrone in parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
continuously for forty-seven years (1826–1873), and was a member of Lord Derby's third ministry (1866–1868) as Vice-President of the Council and afterwards as First Lord of the Admiralty
The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the di ...
. Lowry-Corry was thus brought up in close touch with Conservative party politics, but it is said to have been his winning personality and social accomplishments rather than his political connections that recommended him to the favourable notice of Benjamin Disraeli
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation o ...
, who in 1866 made Lowry-Corry his private secretary. From this time till the statesman's death in 1881 Corry maintained his connection with Disraeli, the relations between the two men being more intimate and confidential than usually subsist between a private secretary and his political chief.
When Disraeli resigned office in 1868 Lowry-Corry declined various offers of public employment to be free to continue his services, now unpaid, to the Conservative leader. When the latter returned to power in 1874, Corry resumed his position as official private secretary to the prime minister. He accompanied Disraeli (who in 1876 had been ennobled as Earl of Beaconsfield) to the Congress of Berlin
The Congress of Berlin (13 June – 13 July 1878) was a diplomatic conference to reorganise the states in the Balkan Peninsula after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, which had been won by Russia against the Ottoman Empire. Represented at th ...
in 1878, where he acted as one of the secretaries of the special embassy of Great Britain. In the latter year he was awarded the CB, in the Civil Division.
On the defeat of the Conservatives in 1880, Corry was raised to the peerage
A peerage is a legal system historically comprising various hereditary titles (and sometimes non-hereditary titles) in a number of countries, and composed of assorted noble ranks.
Peerages include:
Australia
* Australian peers
Belgium
* Belgi ...
as Baron Rowton, ''of Rowton Castle in the County of Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to t ...
'' on 6 May 1880, which was then his country residence and ultimately inherited in 1889 from his maternal aunt, Lady Charlotte Barbara Lyster. He was a DL and JP for the same county.
Lord Rowton was in Algiers
Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
when Beaconsfield was stricken with his last illness in the spring of 1881; but returning post-haste across Europe, he was present at the death-bed of his old chief. Beaconsfield bequeathed to Rowton all his correspondence and other papers. In 1897 he was made KCVO and in 1900 he was sworn of the Privy Council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...
.
Lord Rowton is also well-remembered as a philanthropist as the originator of the Rowton Houses
Rowton Houses was a chain of hostels built in London, England, by the Victorian philanthropist Lord Rowton to provide decent accommodation for working men in place of the squalid lodging houses of the time.
George Orwell, in his 1933 book ''D ...
, six large hostels for working men which were much better than existing lodging houses. He was inspired by projects of that kind founded by Lord Iveagh
Earl of Iveagh (pronounced —especially in Dublin—or ) is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, created in 1919 for the businessman and philanthropist Edward Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh, Edward Guinness, 1st Viscount Iveagh. He was ...
in Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
and at the time of his death was chairman of both the Rowton Houses Company and the Guinness Trust
The Guinness Partnership is one of the largest providers of affordable housing and care in England. Founded as a charitable trust in 1890, it is now a Community Benefit Society with eight members. Bloomberg classify it as a real estate owner a ...
. In 1890 he served as treasurer of the Salop Infirmary in Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...
.
Personal life
Lord Rowton never married. He is alleged to have had an affair with Violet, Marchioness of Granby, and also alleged to be the father of Lady Violet Manners
Lady Violet Diana Louise Manners (born 18 August 1993) is a British socialite, businesswoman, and model.
Life and career
She is the eldest child of David Manners, 11th Duke of Rutland and Emma Manners, Duchess of Rutland. Lady Violet studied ...
, legally the second daughter of her mother's husband, the 8th Duke of Rutland. Lady Violet, known as Letty, married firstly Hugo Charteris, Lord Elcho (killed in action 1916), and was mother of two sons, the 12th Earl of Wemyss and Lord Charteris of Amisfield.
Lord Rowton died at his London home in Berkeley Square in November 1903, aged 65. He was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery
Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of Queens Park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, it was founded by the barrister George Frederic ...
, and is also commemorated by a plaque at St Michael's Parish Church, Alberbury
Alberbury is a village in Shropshire, England, west of Shrewsbury on the B4393 road which travels from Ford to Lake Vyrnwy. It is on to the England-Wales border, marked by Prince's Oak.
The River Severn runs just north of the village, and most o ...
, in whose parish Rowton Castle lies.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowton, Montagu Corry
1838 births
1903 deaths
Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Companions of the Order of the Bath
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
People educated at Harrow School
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
Montagu
Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria