Lowther, John, 1st Viscount Lonsdale (1655 -1700)

John Lowther was born at Hackthorpe Hall, Lowther, Westmorland, the son of Colonel John Lowther of Lowther, and his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Henry Bellingham, Bart, of Hilsington, Westmoreland. He was educated at Kendal Grammar School and Sedbergh School before being admitted to Queen's College, Oxford in 1670. He entered the Inner Temple in 1671, and called to the Bar in 1677. On 3 December 1674, he married Lady Katherine Thynne (d. ca. 1713), daughter of Sir Henry Frederick Thynne, 1st Baronet. They had eight children. Two of his sons succeeded him to become 2nd and 3rd Viscount Lonsdale. Prior to his creation as a viscount in 1696, John had succeeded his grandfather, also named Sir John Lowther (1605–1675), as a baronet. He was twice member of Parliament for Westmorland between 1677 and 1696. In 1688 he was instrumental in securing Cumberland and Westmorland for King William III, and was appointed to the Privy Council in 1689. In 1690 he became First Lord of the Treasury, and was Lord Privy Seal from March 1699 until his death. Lonsdale wrote Memoirs of the Reign of James II, which was published posthumously in 1808 and again in 1857. He was badly injured in a duel in 1691. He died at Lowther in 1700 and was buried in Lowther churchyard. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Richard, who died unmarried in 1713, and was succeeded by his younger brother, Henry, the third Viscount, who was also a prominent politician. The family became extinct when the 3rd Viscount died unmarried in March 1751.