Talk:Robert Lowe

So why isn't this titled Robert Lowe?

The following is a closed discussion of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the proposal was already moved. --RegentsPark (talk) 02:53, 9 May 2010 (UTC)

This is another instance of a politician being given a peerage in retirement. Like Anthony Eden and Clement Attlee, he isn't known by it; he didn't do much (the Complete Peerage includes nothing) in the House of Lords; and there is no call for consistency with the successors he didn't have. Let's move this to plain Robert Lowe, in accordance with WP:NCROY and common usage. Septentrionalis PMAnderson 22:28, 8 May 2010 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The Queen was not pleased

Lowe spoke against the Royal Titles Bill in 1876 at East Retford and implied that Queen Victoria had been responsible for the bill's introduction. As a result, when the Liberals returned to power in 1880, Victoria made it clear that she would not accept any ministry that included Lowe.[1] Nevertheless, he was raised to the peerage as Viscount Sherbrooke against the express wishes of Queen Victoria, but with the backing of William Gladstone (a peerage that would become extinct upon his death).

So, what's going on here? I understand that the monarch acts on the advice of her Prime Minister, however, when it comes to honours she has more personal prerogative. There are certain knighthoods that are within the monarch's personal gift, for example. Peerages are not just simply announced and that's that; they have to be formally created by Letters Patent, signed by the Queen. So, are we saying someone physically forced her to sign the document (... against the express wishes of Queen Victoria)? Or are we saying she reluctantly agreed to Gladstone's recommendation that she approve the peerage and sign the Letters Patent? That's not the same as saying it happened against her express wishes, which sounds like someone else did it without her knowledge or consent - which is an impossibility, because her signature would absolutely have been required. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 04:39, 22 August 2010 (UTC)

Doesn't the Queen act on the advice of the government, so it really doesn't matter what she thinks, she just signs? Wikidea 10:01, 24 August 2010 (UTC)

Generally speaking, that is true. So, I return to my original question: why are we saying that this peerage was created "against the express wishes of Queen Victoria", when she was the one who created it? -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 11:15, 24 August 2010 (UTC)

Second wife

It appears that after his first wife died he married his adopted daughter.

The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), Saturday 4 July 1885, page 13 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19799023

THE SKETCHER

People I Have Met.

BY SIMON SWICKERS.

DURING a long residence in Australia, it has been my fortune to meet a great many individuals who from time to time came prominently before the public. Many of these persons grew immensely rich, and joined the "'pure merino" class; some developed into authors, poets, or prominent divines; a good many became legislators; one or two took to bushranging ; and an intimate acquaintance committed murder, and was hanged by the neck until he was dead. It is my intention in the present aeries of sketches to give to the public that which comes uppermost in my mind, promising to adhere strictly to facts, and not weary the reader by verbosity. No. I.—An Australian Viscount. It is now nearly forty-two years since I met Viscount Sherhrooke, one of the most remark- able men of the present century in connection with Australia. His lordship, who is perhaps better known to old colonists as plain Robert Lowe, arrived in New South Wales in the year 1843, and followed his profession as a barrister with only moderate success until a circumstance occurred which at once placed him amongst the foremost rank of his legal brethren. In the year 1844 there was residing in Sussex- street, Sydney, a widow named Jamieson, who kept a small store. There was also living in the vicinity a ruffian named Knatchbull, who had some time previously " left his country for his country's good," and who at one period of his career held the honourable position of captain in the Royal Navy. Knatchbull, who was a brother of Lord Naresborough, formed the idea of murdering Mrs Jamieson and robbing her of her savings, but was caught almost in the act, and after an examination was fully committed for trial. In consequence of the high connections of the culprit strenuous efforts were made to secure an acquittal, and Mr. Lowe was retained for the defence. The case came duly before the court, and notwithstanding the remarkable ability displayed by the learned counsel, the prisoner was convicted and sentenced to death. Even then great in- fluence was brought to bear in the condemned man's behalf, but the circumstances attending the murder were of such an atrocious and heartless character that the law was allowed to take its course, and Knatchbull was hanged in the month of February in the following year. Mrs. Jamieson, at the time of her unhappy death, was the mother of an interesting little girl about 8 years of age, and this child was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Lowe. After the trial Mr. Lowe took some interest in political matters, making his debut as a Tory; he subsequently became a Liberal, and finally settled down as a fierce Radical, the working classes returning him as a member of Parliament for Sydney. In consequence of the rapid and numerous changes of his political opinions he was facetiously called "Bob Whirligig Lowe." After some years of active and prosperous life in the colonies, Mr. Lowe left for the old country, and, his reputation pre- ceding him, it was not long before he came prominently before the British public. Having been elected for an important constituency, he joined the first Gladstone Administration as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and afterwards as Home Secretary. A dissolution took place in 1874, and it does not appear that the subject of my notice again took office, though he continued to sit as a member for the London University in the Liberal interest. In 1880 Mr. Lowe was raised to the Peerage under the title of Viscount Sherbrooke. In 1884 Lady Sherbrooke died, and not many months afterwards his lordship, then 73, married Miss Jamieson, the child he had adopted forty years previously. The circumstances attending Lord Sherbrooke's career are rather romantic, but they are no doubt within the recollection of many readers. It may be remarked, en passant, that his lordship is an albino. Some time since it was announced that Lord Sherbrooke was preparing a volume of poems for the Press, and this circumstance gave rise to a serious comic sketch, probably written by one of his erstwhile political opponents, in the St. James's Gazette. It represented that, owing to the great strain on his mental capacity, his lordship was in a very prostrate condition. He was described as having fallen asleep with a "Rhyming Dictionary" in his hand, and was afterwards heard pacing his chamber muttering incoherently. A great many visits of condolence were said to have been paid, and a messenger had arrived at his residence with a basket of hot-house grapes from the Queen! The cream of the joke, however, lies in the fact that, the S. M. Herald, in a recent summary of English news, repeated quite innocently a portion of the facetious article as a statement of Viscount Sherbrooke's serious illness.

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