James William Lowther, 1st Viscount Ullswater, GCB, PC, JP, DL (1 April 1855 – 27 March 1949), was a British Conservative politician. He was Speaker of the House of Commons between 1905 and 1921. He was the longest-serving Speaker of the 20th century.
The son of Hon. William Lowther, a grandson of William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale, and for 25 years Member of Parliament for Westmorland, and Alice, 3rd daughter of James Parke, 1st Baron Wensleydale, Lowther was educated at Eton College, King's College London where he took an Associateship degree, and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied classics and law.[1] Lowther became a barrister in 1879, eventually becoming a Bencher of the Inner Temple in 1906.
He was Member of Parliament for Rutland in 1883; contested Mid Cumberland in 1885; and sat for Penrith from 1886 to 1921. He was appointed 4th Charity Commissioner in 1887, and held junior ministerial office as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 1891 to 1892. He was Chairman of Ways and Means and Deputy Speaker from 1895 to 1905 and Speaker of the House of Commons from 1905 to 1921.
There are three golden rules for Parliamentary speakers: Stand up. Speak up. Shut up.
— J. W. Lowther, 1917
Lowther represented Great Britain at the International Conference at Venice in 1892, and at the International Conference on Emigration at Rome in 1924. He was Chairman of the Speakers' Electoral Reform Conference in 1916–1917, of the Buckingham Palace Conference (on the partition of Ulster) in 1914, of the Boundary Commissions (Great Britain and Ireland) in 1917, of the Royal Commission on Proportional Representation in 1918, Devolution Conference in 1919, of the Royal Commission on London Government, 1921–1922; of Review Committee Political Honours, 1923–1924, and Statutory Commission on Cambridge University, 1923; of the Agricultural Wages Board from 1930 to 1940; of the Lords and Commons Committee on Electoral Reform, 1929–1930; and of BBC Enquiry Committee, 1935. He was a Trustee of the British Museum from 1922 to 1931 and a Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery from 1925. In 1907 his portrait was painted by Philip de László.
He was appointed to the Privy Council in 1898, created 1st Viscount Ullswater, of Campsea Ashe, in the County of Suffolk, on his retirement as Speaker in 1921,[2] and appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in July 1921.[3] He also held the degrees of DCL from the University of Oxford, LL.D from the University of Cambridge and DCL from the University of Leeds.
  |
|
On 1 March 1886, Lowther married Mary Frances Beresford-Hope (d. 16 May 1944). They had three children:[citation needed]
He was succeeded to the viscountcy by his great-grandson.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Rutland 1883–1885 With: George Finch |
Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Penrith 1886–1918 |
Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament for Penrith and Cockermouth 1918–1921 |
Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs 1891–1892 |
Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chairman of Ways and Means 1895–1905 |
Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Speaker of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom 1905–1921 |
Succeeded by |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | Senior Privy Counsellor 1945–1949 |
Succeeded by |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Viscount Ullswater 1921–1949 |
Succeeded by |
|
| |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| House of Commons of England |
|
| |||||
| House of Commons of Great Britain |
| ||||||
| House of Commons of the United Kingdom |
| ||||||
| International |
|
|---|---|
| National |
|
