William Lowther, 2nd Earl of Lonsdale, PC, FRS (21 July 1787 – 4 March 1872), styled Viscount Lowther between 1807 and 1844, was a British

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politician.

Background

Lonsdale was the eldest son of William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale, and Lady Augusta, daughter of John Fane, 9th Earl of Westmorland. Henry Lowther was his younger brother. He was educated at Harrow and

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Political career

Lonsdale was returned to parliament for

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in 1808, a seat he held until 1813, and later represented

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland''R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref>) is an area of North West England which was Historic counties of England, historically a county. People of the area ...

between 1813 and 1831 and 1832 and 1841,

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in 1832 and West Cumberland between 1832 and 1833. He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1818 and served under the

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as First Commissioner of Woods and Forests between 1828 and 1830 and under Sir Robert Peel as Treasurer of the Navy and

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between 1834 and 1835. In 1841 he was summoned to the

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through a

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in his father's junior title of Baron Lowther and held office under Peel as Postmaster General between 1841 and 1845. In 1844 he succeeded his father in the earldom of Lonsdale. He held his last ministerial office as

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, with a seat in the cabinet, in 1852, in the

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's first administration. Lonsdale was elected a

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on 5 July 1810. He was also

Lord Lieutenant of Cumberland This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Cumberland. From 1765 to 1974, all Lord Lieutenants were also Custos Rotulorum of Cumberland. * Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon 20 August 1586 – 14 December 1595 *''Likely ...

and

between 1844 and 1868.

Personal life

Lord Lonsdale never married, but acknowledged three illegitimate children born to opera singers or dancers; he left them substantial sums in his will. His daughter with Caroline Saintfal, Marie Caroline, was born in Paris in 1818. Another daughter born the same year, Frances ("Fanny") Lowther (1818–1890), was registered as the daughter of "Narcisse Chassepomp", in fact Pierre-Narcisse Chaspoux, formerly a dancer at the

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and then in London, who in 1821 gave birth to the artist Charles Meryon. Frances (Fanny) married Henry Broadwood MP (1793–1878, of the piano-making family), and was the mother of Brig-Gen. Arthur Broadwood (1848–1928). With Emilia Cresotti, an Italian opera singer, he fathered Francis William Lowther (1841–1908), who was the father of Claude Lowther MP and Toupie Lowther. He died in his London house at 15

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on 4 March 1872, aged 84, and was succeeded in the earldom and to Lowther Castle by his nephew,

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. On the day he died he waited in his carriage outside a London auction house, while an agent bid on his behalf on some lots of porcelain. Of an estate valued at £700,000 (without the

entail In English common law, fee tail or entail is a form of trust, established by deed or settlement, that restricts the sale or inheritance of an estate in real property and prevents that property from being sold, devised by will, or otherwise ali ...

ed land), Francis William and Fanny were bequeathed £125,000 each, and Francis's son £25,000. A marble bust of him was sculpted by Edward Bowring Stephens, now in the

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collection at

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, Buckinghamshire.

Collecting

From 1842 until his death he gathered a remarkable collection of ancient works of art at his enormous country seat, Lowther Castle, composed of more than 100 pieces of Egyptian, Etruscan, Greek, and mostly Roman sculpture, whose selection reflected the spirit of the collections of the ‘Golden Age of Dilettantism’ during the Victorian era.

References

*Collins, Roger, ''Charles Meryon: A Life'', 1999, Garton & Company, , 9780906030356

External links

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People from Westmorland English art collectors