Henry Lowther, 3rd Viscount Lonsdale

Who was Henry Lowther, 3rd Viscount Lonsdale?

Henry Lowther, 3rd Viscount Lonsdale PC FRS was an English courtier and landowner.

He succeeded to the Viscountcy in 1713, upon the death of his elder brother, Richard Lowther, 2nd Viscount Lonsdale. During the 1715 rising, he and the Lord Lieutenant of Cumberland, the Earl of Carlisle assembled the Cumberland and Westmorland militia at Penrith's Beacon Fell with the posse comitatus, but the citizen army disintegrated upon the approach of the Earl of Derwentwater's troops. Lonsdale found twenty of his servants the only persons faithful to him, and was compelled to retire to Appleby Castle.

His brave, if futile conduct, won admiration. He was appointed a Lord of the Bedchamber to George I on 19 July 1717. He held the post for ten years, although he much preferred country life to that of London. He was sworn of the Privy Council and appointed Constable of the Tower of London in 1726, but he resigned the constableship in 1731, also because of his desire to live in the country. During this period, Lowther Hall was badly damaged by fire in 1718, and he spent little time there. In 1720, during the collapse of the South Sea Bubble, he may have lost as much as £30,000, worsening the condition of an estate already weakened by his gambling at cards and on the turf. He also spent significant sums to secure the burgage tenures of Appleby, bringing that borough under the family's control.