| Honorific Prefix: | The Right Honourable |
| The Viscount Lonsdale | |
| Honorific Suffix: | PC FRS |
| Office: | Lord Privy Seal |
| Term Start: | 1699 |
| Term End: | 1700 |
| Predecessor: | The Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery |
| Successor: | The Earl of Tankerville |
| Office1: | Member of Parliament for Westmorland |
| Term Start1: | 1681 |
| Term End1: | 1696 |
| Predecessor1: | Alan Bellingham Christopher Philipson |
| Alongside1: | Alan Bellingham, Henry Wharton, Goodwin Wharton, Sir Christopher Musgrave, Sir Richard Sandford |
| Successor1: | Sir Richard Sandford William Fleming |
| Term Start2: | 1677 |
| Term End2: | 1679 |
| Predecessor2: | Sir Philip Musgrave Sir Thomas Strickland |
| Successor2: | Alan Bellingham Christopher Philipson |
| Office3: | Vice-Chamberlain of the Household |
| Term Start3: | 1689 |
| Term End3: | 1694 |
| Office4: | First Lord of the Treasury |
| Term Start4: | March 1690 |
| Term End4: | November 1690 |
| Predecessor4: | The Earl of Monmouth |
| Successor4: | The Lord Godolphin |
| Birth Name: | John Lowther |
| Birth Date: | 25 April 1655 |
| Birth Place: | Hackthorpe Hall, Lowther, Westmorland |
| Death Place: | Lowther, Westmorland |
| Education: | Sedbergh School |
| Alma Mater: | Queen's College, Oxford |
| Parents: | John Lowther Elizabeth Bellingham |
| Relations: | Sir John Lowther, 1st Baronet (grandfather) Sir Henry Bellingham, 1st Baronet (grandfather) |
John Lowther, 1st Viscount Lonsdale, PC FRS (25 April 165510 July 1700[1]), known as Sir John Lowther, 2nd Baronet, from 1675 to 1696, was an English politician.
He was born at Hackthorpe Hall, Lowther, Westmorland, the son of Col. John Lowther of Lowther (the eldest son of Sir John Lowther, 1st Baronet) and his wife, Elizabeth Bellingham, daughter of Sir Henry Bellingham, 1st Baronet, of Hilsington, Westmoreland.
He was educated at Sedbergh School before admission to Queen's College, Oxford, where he matriculated in 1670. He was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1671 and called to the Bar in 1677.
Prior to his creation as a viscount in 1696, Lowther had succeeded his grandfather as a baronet, and was twice member of parliament for Westmorland between 1677 and 1696. In 1688 he was serviceable in securing Cumberland and Westmorland for King William III, and was appointed to the Privy Council in 1689. In 1690, he was first lord of the treasury, and he was Lord Privy Seal from March 1699 until his death. He was badly injured in a duel in 1691.
Lonsdale wrote in 1688 a brief account of events from the accession of James II to the landing of the Prince of Orange at Torbay, which was later printed as Memoirs of the Reign of James II (in 1808, for private circulation) and again in 1857. The Memoirs reveal no more of Lonsdale's part in events than his public utterances.[2]
On 3 December 1674, he married Lady Katherine Thynne (1653–1712/3), sister of Thomas Thynne, 1st Viscount Weymouth,[3] and second daughter of Sir Henry Frederick Thynne, 1st Baronet and the former Hon. Mary Coventry (second daughter, by his second wife, of Thomas Coventry, 1st Baron Coventry). Together, they were the parents of:[4]
He died at Lowther on 10 July 1700 and was buried in Lowther churchyard. His wife Katherine Lowther took over his political influence and she was eventually buried at Lowther in 1713.[3] The tomb is by William Stanton.[5]
His branch of the Lowther family became extinct when his son Henry, the 3rd viscount, died unmarried in March 1751, and the baronetcy and estates went to his cousin, James Lowther, later the first Earl of Lonsdale.
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