| Andrew Low | |
| Birth Date: | 20 July 1812 |
| Birth Place: | Kincardineshire, Scotland |
| Death Place: | Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England |
| Occupation: | Cotton merchant |
| Spouse: | |
| Children: | 7 |
| Relations: | Alastair Hugh Graham (grandson) |
Andrew Low II (20 July 1812 – 27 June 1886) was a Scottish-American cotton merchant.
Low was born in Kincardineshire, Scotland, on 20 July 1812. He was a son of William Low and Katherine (Reid) Low.
In 1829, aged 17, Low emigrated from Scotland to Savannah, Georgia, to work for his uncle, also named Andrew. In 1839, his uncle retired back to England, and the young Low was in charge of the cotton firm, eventually becoming "the premier cotton merchant in pre-Civil War Savannah" and the city's richest man. After his uncle died in 1849, he inherited all of his property (including his home at 329 Abercorn Street) and businesses in Savannah and in Liverpool, England. The firm, known as Andrew Low & Co. in Savannah and Isaac Low & Co. in Liverpool, had a fleet of cargo ships which carried cotton from their warehouse, the Scott and Balfour Stores, on the river in Savannah to England, where he maintained an office in Liverpool.
He was also a director of the Merchants National Bank and the Central Railroad.
In 1844, Low was married to Sarah Cecil Hunter (1817–1849), a daughter of Alexander Hunter and Harriet (Bellinger) Hunter. Together, they were the parents of three children: Andrew (who died young), Amy and Harriet.[1]
In 1854, five years after Sarah's death, Low remarried, to Mary Cowper Stiles (1832–1863), a daughter of U.S. Representative William Henry Stiles and Elizabeth Ann (Mackay) Stiles.[2] Her father also served as U.S. Chargé to the Austrian Empire. Together, they were the parents of:[3]
The Andrew Low Carriage House, part of the Juliette Gordon Low Historic District, is at 330 Drayton Street in Savannah.[3] Low hosted William Makepeace Thackeray at his mansion, located in front of the carriage house.[6] [7] Low died on 27 June 1886 at his home, Beauchamp Hall, Leamington Spa, in Warwickshire, England.[8] [9] His body was returned to America and he was buried alongside his wives at Savannah's Laurel Grove Cemetery.[10]
Through his daughter Jessie, he was posthumously a grandfather of four: Ronald Andrew Hugh Graham, Sybil Hattie Hermione Graham, Murial Mary Graham and Alastair Hugh Graham (1904–1982), an Oxford friend of Evelyn Waugh who was considered an inspiration for Sebastian Flyte in Brideshead Revisited.[11] [12]