James Lowther 1st Earl of Lonsdale

1st surviving son of Robert Lowther of Maulds Meaburn, Westmorland, governor of Barbados 1711-1720, and Katherine, daughter of Sir Joseph Pennington, 2nd Bt., M.P., of Muncaster, Cumberland.

Married, 7 September 1761, Lady Mary Stuart, daughter of John, 3rd Earl of Bute.

Succeeded to estates and baronetcy of his great-uncle Henry, 3rd Viscount Lonsdale, 6 March 1751; on death of Sir William Lowther, 3rd Bt., 15 Apr. 1756, succeeded to estates of his cousin Sir James Lowther, 4th Bt., of Whitehaven; created Earl of Lonsdale 24 May 1784; Viscount Lowther 26 Oct. 1797.

1st signatory [as 'James Lowther'] of the 1783 address to George III of planters residing in Great Britain and merchants trading to those islands.

MP for several constituencies 1757-1784, when he was made an Earl.

'Sir James Lowther before he came of age was reckoned the richest commoner in England. From his father he inherited estates in Cumberland and Barbados; from Lord Lonsdale, large estates in Westmorland; and in 1756 the Cumberland property of the Lowthers of Whitehaven, including Whitehaven itself—a fortune estimated at over £2,000,000.'

John Brooke, 'Lowther, Sir James, 5th Bt.', History of Parliament online; London Gazette, 12422, 11 March, 1783, p. 2.