James Lowther, 1st Viscount Ullswater

The Right Honourable The Viscount Ullswater GCB PC JP DL


Speaker of the House of Commons
In office 1905–1921
Monarch	Edward VII George V
Preceded by	Sir William Gully
Succeeded by	J. H. Whitley

Personal details
Born	1 April 1855 (1855-04)
Died	27 March 1949(1949-03-27) (aged 93)
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Mary Beresford-Hope (d. 1944)
Alma mater	King's College London Trinity College, Cambridge

James William Lowther, 1st Viscount Ullswater GCB PC JP DL (1 April 1855 – 27 March 1949) was a British Conservative politician. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons between 1905 and 1921.

Background and education

The son of Hon. William Lowther, a grandson of William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale and for 25 years Member of Parliament for Westmorland, and Alice, 3rd daughter of James Parke, 1st Baron Wensleydale, Lowther was educated at Eton College, King's College London where he took an Associateship degree, and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied classics and law.^[1] Lowther became a barrister in 1879, eventually becoming a Bencher of the Inner Temple in 1906.

Political career

He was Member of Parliament for Rutland in 1883; contested Mid Cumberland in 1885; and sat for Penrith from 1886–1921. He was appointed 4th Charity Commissioner in 1887, and held junior ministerial office as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 1891–1892. He was Chairman of Ways and Means and Deputy Speaker from 1895–1905 and Speaker of the House of Commons from 1905–1921.

There are three golden rules for Parliamentary speakers: Stand up. Speak up. Shut up.
— J. W. Lowther, 1917

Other public appointments

Lowther caricatured by Spy for Vanity Fair, 1906

Lowther represented Great Britain at the International Conference at Venice in 1892, and at the International Conference on Emigration at Rome in 1924. He was Chairman of the Speakers' Electoral Reform Conference in 1916–1917, of the Buckingham Palace Conference (on the partition of Ulster) in 1914, of the Boundary Commissions (Great Britain and Ireland) in 1917, of the Royal Commission on Proportional Representation in 1918, Devolution Conference in 1919, of the Royal Commission on London Government, 1921–1922; of Review Committee Political Honours, 1923–1924, and Statutory Commission on Cambridge University, 1923; of the Agricultural Wages Board from 1930–1940; of the Lords and Commons Committee on Electoral Reform, 1929–1930; and of BBC Enquiry Committee, 1935. He was a Trustee of the British Museum from 1922–1931 and a Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery from 1925. In 1907 his portrait was painted by Philip de Laszlo.

Honours

He was appointed to the Privy Council in 1898, created 1st Viscount Ullswater, of Campsea Ashe, in the County of Suffolk, on his retirement as Speaker in 1921,^[2] and appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in July 1921.^[3] He also held the degrees of DCL from the University of Oxford, LL.D from the University of Cambridge and DCL from the University of Leeds.

Styles of address

1855–1883: Mr James William Lowther
1883–1885: Mr James William Lowther MP
1885–1886: Mr James William Lowther
1886–1898: Mr James William Lowther MP
1898–1921: The Rt Hon James William Lowther MP
1921–1949: The Rt Hon The Viscount Ullswater GCB PC

Family

On 1 March 1886, Lowther married Mary Frances Beresford-Hope (d. 16 May 1944). They had three children:^[4]

Major Christopher William Lowther (b. 18 Jan 1887, d. 7 Jan 1935). He was succeeded to the viscountcy by his great-grandson.
Arthur James Beresford Lowther (b. 28 Oct 1888, d. 2 Mar 1967)
Mildred Lowther (b. 1890,^[5] d. 2 Jul 1973)

Footnotes

↑ "Lowther, James William (LWTR874JW)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
↑ "No. 32413". The London Gazette. 5 August 1921. p. 6166.
↑ "No. 32394". The London Gazette. 19 July 1921. p. 5724.
↑ "thePeerage.com". Retrieved 2015-01-21.
↑ England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837–1915

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to James Lowther, 1st Viscount Ullswater.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Hon. Gerard Noel George Finch	Member of Parliament for Rutland 1883–1885 With: George Finch	Succeeded by George Finch
Preceded by Henry Howard	Member of Parliament for Penrith 1886–1918	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Penrith and Cockermouth 1918–1921	Succeeded by Sir Cecil Lowther
Political offices
Preceded by Sir James Fergusson, Bt	Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs 1891–1892	Succeeded by Sir Edward Grey, Bt
Preceded by John William Mellor	Chairman of Ways and Means 1895–1905	Succeeded by John Grant Lawson
Preceded by William Gully	Speaker of the House of Commons 1905–1921	Succeeded by John Henry Whitley
Honorary titles
Preceded by The Marquess of Crewe	Senior Privy Counsellor 1945–1949	Succeeded by Winston Churchill
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Viscount Ullswater 1921–1949	Succeeded by Nicholas Lowther

Speakers of the House of Commons

House of Commons
of England

14th century	Hungerford De la Mare Pickering Guildesborough Waldegrave Pickering Bussy Cheney Doreward Savage Redford Savage
15th century	Esturmy Tiptoft Chaucer Stourton Doreward Hungerford Chaucer Redman Beauchamp Flower Hunt Chaucer Baynard Flower Russell Walton Vernon Tyrell Alington, Sr. Tyrell Russell Hunt Bowes Tyrell Burley W. Tresham Burley W. Tresham Say Popham I W. Tresham Oldhall Thorpe Charlton Wenlock T. Tresham Green Strangeways Say Alington Jr. Wood Catesby Lovell Mordaunt Fitzwilliam Empson Drury Englefield
16th century	Dudley Englefield Sheffield Nevill More Audley Wingfield Rich Hare Moyle Baker Dyer Pollard Broke Higham Cordell Gargrave T. Williams Onslow Wray Bell Popham II Puckering Snagge Coke Yelverton
17th century	Croke Phelips R. Crewe Richardson T. Crewe H. Finch J. Finch Glanville Lenthall Pelham Lenthall Rous (Barebones Parliament) Lenthall Widdrington (2nd Protectorate Parliament) Chute, Long & Bampfield (3rd Protectorate Parliament) Lenthall Grimston Turnour Charlton Seymour Sawyer Seymour Gregory W. Williams Trevor Powle Trevor Foley Littleton
18th century	Harley Smith

House of Commons
of Great Britain

18th century	Smith R. Onslow Bromley Hanmer Compton A. Onslow Cust Norton Cornwall Grenville Addington

House of Commons
of the United Kingdom

19th century	Addington Mitford Abbot Manners-Sutton Abercromby Shaw-Lefevre Denison Brand Peel Gully
20th century	Lowther Whitley FitzRoy Brown Morrison Hylton-Foster King Lloyd Thomas Weatherill Boothroyd
21st century	Martin Bercow

Chairmen of Ways and Means
Grant Bernal Osborne Greene Bernal Osborne Wilson-Patten Pleydell-Bouverie FitzRoy Massey Dodson Bonham Carter Raikes Playfair Otway Courtney Mellor Lowther Lawson Emmott Whitley Hope Young Hope Herbert Clifton Brown Milner MacAndrew Touche Anstruther-Gray Maybray-King Storey Fletcher Irving Grant-Ferris Thomas Murton Weatherill Walker Morris Haselhurst Hoyle

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