LOWE, Robert, VISCOUNT S HIEP.BROOKE, English politician: b. Bingham, Nottingham shire, 4 Dec. 1811; d. London, 27 July 1892. He was educated at Winchester College and at University College, Oxford, and directly upon his admission to the bar in 1842 went to Aus tralia, where he quickly attained prominence in political affairs. In 1843 he became a member of the Legislative Council of New South Wales, and made himself famous by his opposition to the land monopoly, as well as by the part he performed in the development of education and the regulation of finance. He also made effect ual protest against the English practice of transporting convicts to Australia. Meanwhile he was not neglectful of his private affairs, but acquired great wealth, and returned to England in 1850 and became a leader writer on the Times. He sat for Kidderminster, 1852 58; Caine, 1859-67; and London University, 1868-80. He was vice-president of the Board of Control 1852-55, and vice-president of the Board of Trade 1855-58; joint secretary of the Board of Control, and in 1859, under Palmerston, was placed practically at the head of educational affairs. In consequence of a mistaken vote of censure by the House of Commons in 1864 he resigned his office, but only to participate with ability more marked than before in the pro ceedings of that body. The rejection of the
Whig Reform Bill in 1866 was considered to have been largely due to his brilliant and power ful speeches against it. As one of the Adul lamites (q.v.) he received overtures from the government of Lord Derby, but although he called himself an outcast from the Liberal party he refused to leave it. In 1867 he made a number of speeches designed to justify his opposition to extension of the suffrage. His strong support of the resolutions for disestab lishment of the Irish Church, in 1868, restored him to favor in the Liberal party; and in December of that year he became Chancellor of the Exchequer under Gladstone, giving up that office in 1873 to accept the post of Home Secre tary, in which, however, his tenure was brief. His reforms as Chancellor of the Exchequer related especially to reduction of sugar duties, the replacing of assessed taxes by license duties and like readjustments. After the fall of the Gladstone ministry in 1874 Lowe took comparatively little part in public affairs. He was raised to the peerage as Viscount Sher brooke in 1880. Consult Parkes, 'Fifty Years of Australian History' (1892) • Martin, 'Life of Lord Sherbrooke' (1893) ; Hogan, 'Robert Lowe, Viscount Sherbrooke' (1893) ; -also Hansard, 'Parliamentary Debates.'