James Lowther, 1st Earl Of Lonsdale

James Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale, was born on August 5, 1736, and died on May 24, 1802. He was an English landowner and politician with a parliamentary career spanning from 1757 to 1784, after which he was elevated to the Peerage of Great Britain as the Earl of Lonsdale.

Lowther was the son of Robert Lowther of Maulds Meaburn, Westmorland, and Catherine Pennington. He received his education at Peterhouse, Cambridge. In 1745, following the death of his father, he succeeded to the baronetcy and inherited estates that included Lowther Hall. These estates were associated with his great-uncle, Henry Lowther, 3rd Viscount Lonsdale. Among the inherited properties was the Christchurch Plantation in Barbados, a slave plantation. Additional inheritances included estates from Sir William Lowther, 3rd Baronet, of Marske, in 1756, and from his cousin Sir James Lowther, 4th Baronet, of Whitehaven, in 1755.

Throughout his political career, Lowther exercised influence over numerous "rotten" or "pocket" boroughs—small parliamentary constituencies with controlled elections. Notably, in 1761, he is credited with ensuring the return of eight Members of Parliament ( MPs), representing Cumberland, Westmorland, Cockermouth, Appleby, and Carlisle. In 1781, he facilitated the election of William Pitt the Younger as the MP for Appleby.

On September 7, 1761, Lowther married Mary Crichton-Stuart, daughter of John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, and Mary Wortley-Montagu, 1st Baroness Mount Stuart. He also maintained a series of extramarital relationships. He was known to have taken a mistress, a daughter of one of his tenants, whom he kept in luxury. After her death, Lowther was unable to bear her funeral and kept her body in a glass-topped coffin in a cupboard until it became decomposed, at which point it was buried in Paddington cemetery.

Lowther was created Earl of Lonsdale on May 24, 1784. Later, on October 26, 1797, he was granted the title of Viscount Lowther, with a special remainder to his third cousin, Sir William Lowther, 2nd Baronet, of Little Preston. That same year, he was involved in a duel with Captain Cuthbert of the Guards after an altercation in London related to rioting in Mount Street; the duel, which occurred on June 9, 1792, resulted in both men being unharmed, and the matter was resolved with a handshake. Another duel took place in January 1798 with Sir Frederick Fletcher-Vane in Hyde Park. Lowther was sometimes referred to by nicknames such as "Wicked Jimmy," the "Bad Earl," the "Gloomy Earl," and "Jimmy" or "Jemmy Grasp-all, Earl of Toadstool."

Lowther died in 1802 without children from his wife; as a result, his earldom and baronetcy became extinct. However, he was succeeded as Viscount Lowther by his third cousin, William Lowther, 2nd Viscount Lowther. William Lowther was later elevated to Earl of Lonsdale (second creation) in 1807. He was also a coal magnate and inherited Lowther Castle, which he reconstructed between 1806 and 1814.

Lowther had accumulated debts owed to his solicitor, John Wordsworth, father of the poet William Wordsworth. Despite Wordsworth working for Lowther, the debts—amounting to approximately £4,000 from 1763 until Wordsworth's death in 1783—were not paid during Lowther's lifetime and were only settled afterward by his successor.

James Lowther's portraits are held at the National Portrait Gallery in London.