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SHERBROOKE, ROBERT LOWE, VISCOUNT (18...
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See also:SHERBROOKE, See also:ROBERT See also:LOWE, See also:VISCOUNT (1811–1892) , See also:British statesman, was See also:born on the 4th of See also:December 1811 at See also:Bingham, Notts, where his See also:father was the See also:rector. He was educated at See also:Winchester and University See also:College, See also:Oxford, where he took a first class in See also:classics and a second in See also:mathematics, besides taking a leading See also:part in the See also:Union debates. In 1835 he won a fellowship at Magdalen, but vacated it on marrying, in 1836, See also:Miss Georgina Orred (d. 1884). He was for a few years a successful " See also:coach " at Oxford, but in 1838 was bitterly disappointed at not being elected to the professorship of See also:Greek at See also:Glasgow. In 1841 Lowe moved to See also:London, to read for the See also:Bar (" called " 1842); but his eyesight. showed signs of serious weakness, and, acting on medical See also:advice, he determined to try his See also:fortune in the colonies rather than in London. He went to See also:Sydney, where he set to See also:work in the See also:law courts. In 1843 he was nominated by See also:Sir See also:George Gipps, the See also:governor, to a seat in the New See also:South See also:Wales Legislative See also:Council; owing to a difference with Gipps he resigned his seat, but was elected shortly after-wards for Sydney. Lowe soon made his See also:mark in the See also:political See also:world by his See also:clever speeches, particularly on See also:finance and See also:education; and besides obtaining a large legal practice, he was one of the See also:principal writers for the See also:Atlas newspaper. In 185o he went back to See also:England, in See also:order to enter political See also:life there. His previous university reputation and connexions, combined with his colonial experience, stood him in See also:good See also:stead, The Times was glad to employ his ready See also:pen, and as one of its ablest See also:leader-writers he made his See also:influence widely See also:felt. In 1852 he was returned to See also:Parliament for See also:Kidderminster in the Liberal See also:interest. In the See also:House of See also:Commons his acute reasoning made a considerable impression, and under successive Liberal ministries (18J3–1858) he obtained See also:official experience as secretary of the See also:Board of See also:Control and See also:vice-See also:president of the Board of See also:Trade. In 1859 he went to the Education See also:Office as vice-president of the Council in See also:Lord See also:Palmerston's See also:ministry; there he pursued a vigorous policy, insisting on the See also:necessity of See also:payment by results, and bringing in the revised See also:code (1862), which embodied this principle and made an examination in " the three R's " the test for grants of public See also:money. He felt then, and still more after the Reform See also:Act of 1866, that " we must educate our masters," I and he rather scandalized his old university See also:friends by the stress he laid on See also:physical See also:science as opposed to classical studies. Considerable opposition was aroused by the new regime at the Education Office, and in 1864 Lowe was driven to resign by an adverse See also:vote in Parliament with reference to the way in which inspectors' reports were " edited." The result was unjust to Lowe, but a good See also:deal of feeling had been aroused against See also:Lingen's See also:administration of the Education Office (see LINGEN, See also:BARON), and this was the outcome. Lord Palmerston's See also:death in See also:October 1865 was followed by the formation of the See also:Russell-See also:Gladstone ministry and the introduction of the Reform See also:Bill of 1866. Lowe, a Liberal of the school of See also:Canning and See also:Peel; had already made known his objections to the advance of " See also:democracy "—notably in his speech in 1865 on Sir E. See also:Baines's See also:Borough See also:Franchise Bill—and he was not invited to join the new ministry. He retired into what See also:Bright called the " See also:Cave of See also:Adullam," and opposed the bill in a See also:series of brilliant speeches,' which raised his reputation as an orator to its highest point and effectually caused the downfall of the See also:government. He remained, nevertheless, a Liberal; and after. the franchise question had been settled by what Lowe considered Disraeli's betrayal, and he had been elected the first member for London University, he accepted office again in the Gladstone See also:Cabinet of 1868 as See also:chancellor of the See also:exchequer. Lowe was a rather cut-anddry economist, who prided himself that during his four years of office he took twelve millions off See also:taxation; but later See also:opinion has hardly accepted his removal of the See also:shilling See also:registration See also:duty on See also:corn (1869) as good statesmanship, and his failures are, remembered rather than his successes. His proposed tax of a 1 This phrase is always ascribed to Lowe, and has become See also:history in association with him. But what he really said in his address to the See also:Edinburgh Philosophical Institution in 1867 was that it was necessary " to induce our future masters to learn their letters." See also:halfpenny a See also:box on See also:lucifer matches in 1871 (for which he suggested the See also:epigram ex See also:lute lucellum, "out of See also:light a little profit") roused a See also:storm of opposition, and had to be dropped. In 1873 he was transferred to the.See also:Home Office, but in 1874 the government resigned. When the Liberals returned to See also:power in 188o he was raised to the See also:peerage as Viscount Sherbrooke, but from 1875 till his death at Warlingham, See also:Surrey, on the z7th of See also:July 1892, his See also:health was constantly failing, and by degrees he figured less and less in public life.
Bobby Lowe, as he was popularly known, was one of the most remarkable personalities of his See also:day, with his tall, striking figure, See also:albino complexion and See also:hair, and See also:faculty for epigram and See also:irony. During the 'seventies the following See also:epitaph was suggested for him by one of the wits of his day:
" Here lies poor old Robert Lowe;
Where he's gone to I See also:don't know;
if to the realms of See also:peace and love,
Farewell to happiness above;
If, haply, to some See also:lower level,
We can't congratulate the See also:devil."
Lowe was delighted with this, and promptly translated it into Latin, as follows:
" Continentur hac in fossa
Humilis Roberti See also:ossa;
Si ad coelum evolabit,
See also:Pax in coelo non restabit;
See also:Sin in inferis jacebit,
Diabolum ejus poenitebit."
His See also:literary See also:talent, though mainly employed in journalism, was also shown in a little See also:volume of verses, Poems of a Life (1884). He married a second See also:time, in 1885, but See also:left no See also:children.
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