LOWTHER family of Orcheston St George

[eadygirl]

Hi all,
Looking for info on the Lowther family of Orcheston St George. Our family descends from Gorges Paulin Lowther b 1792 Lyon France but are more interested in the family of his son....

Gorges Macdonald Lowther b 1827 d. 1880 Amesbury - a police magistrate who spent some time in Australia in the 1860s.  He was first married to Eliza Baddeley Welsh in 1857 (2 children, died in infancy?), then Sarah Alice Steel in 1863 ( in Melbourne, Australia) - 5 daughters - Edith, Alice, Blanche, Mary and Winifred Julia.  Winifred Julia was my husband's grandmother. The family life revolved around Orcheston St George at all times, despite them buzzing off to Aus.

I can fill in some of the gaps, and some of the siblings of Winifred Julia - but others may be able to help.  Well, I hope so!

Thanks - in anticipation!
Liz

[davierj]

Hi Liz, there was only one Lowther family in Wiltshire in 1851 census.......
HO107/1845/f023/sched 001.   Orcheston St George, The Rectory.   All surnames Lowther

Georges Paulin h, m, 57, Rector of Orcheston St George, GLS Clifton
Elizabeth, w, m, 50, SAL Morville
Pauline, d, u, 27, MDX Kensington
Rosealia, d, u, 13, WIL Orcheston St George

The household also contained a number of servants.

Dave

[eadygirl]

Hi Dave,

Great to hear from you!  Thanks so much for spending a little time on my behalf.

 I now have the Lowthers of Orcheston St George well covered by the censuses from 1841 to 1881, where Gorge Macdonald Lowther's father Gorges Paulin Lowther lived until his death in 1881 aged 89. The family came and went, Gorges Macdonald Lowther was there in 1871, probably after his stint in Australia as a magistrate (I have lots of info on his time here in Australia). He died in 1880 in Amesbury,Wilts aged 53.  I guess I could get his death cert, but any other clues apart from that as to where he might be buried?

I also have a record of his going to Oxford from Oxford Alumni 1500-1886
Lowther - Gorges Macdonald. 1S [first son?] Gorges P of Longford co.Derby, cler[cleric?] Queens College, matric.7 March 1845 aged 20.

The above dates are a bit skewiff by a couple of years - your thoughts?

If he became a magistrate by the 1860s, would he have needed extra qualifications? If so, where should I look? What did he do after he returned to Wiltshire until his death?

The Lowthers were a large family, lots died young but they seemed to have been somewhat important. Gorges Macdonald L's sister Rosalie married Charles Henry Spencer Churchill, grandson of the 5th duke of Marlborough.

Is a nice big can of worms with none coming out to play!  Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks Dave 
all best, Liz

[Elizabeth Revel]

While I was meandering about with Google I found this:

              /www.flickr.com/photos/13930545@N03/1575257011/#comment72157610887622589

A couple of pictures of the family.

Beth

[davierj]

Gorges Macdonald Lowther's death was registered in Amesbury district as was his father's the following year.   Orcheston St George comes under this district so it is likely that both are buried there.   Record office burials appear to go up to 1989 so I'll have a look next time I'm there.

Dave

[eadygirl]

Hi Beth and Dave,

Re the photos Beth - thankyou very much! -  I have seen them before & quite forgotten about them. In fact have one of them in a family album - the one you sent me a link to.  I'm a bit confused by the caption on flickr as the older woman is definitely Sarah Alice Lowther (nee Steele) - I have quite a few photos of her taken at a variety of ages. I can only presume the young woman is her daughter Edith, as her sibling Alice Lowther died as an infant in Victoria in 1866. I have a photo of the other sister, Winifred Julia.  I shall investigate the Lowther/Linton link further!

And Dave, thanks very much for your kind offer to look at the burial records.  Every little bit helps!

Thanks to you both,
cheers, Liz

[davierj]

We're in luck with the Orcheston St George burials........

3 April 1880 Gorges Macdonald Lowther of Orcheston St George, age 55
30 Apr 1881 Gorges Paulin Lowther, Rector of Orcheston St George, age 89

Dave

[Dundee]

Hi Liz,

Mary Pauline Lowther, daughter of Gorges and Sarah Alice married Frank Robert Claverhouse Dundee on 4 May 1897 at Launceston in Tasmania.  Frank was my gg grandmother's nephew.    The only info that I have about them came from a woman named Phillis Dundee (formerly Farquar) who married their son, Florance Frank Claverhouse Dundee (known as Lal).  At the time (1991), Phillis was in a nursing home in Tasmania and she dictated some info to a nurse for me. Her nephew's family also wrote to me.

Frank and Mary had three children, Lal, May, and Dorothy.  Lal and Phyllis had one child which died as a baby, May married a Mr Madden and was living in Melbourne in 1991 aged 90, Dorothy married Stanley Clark from Melbourne and they lived in Darwin.  Neither May nor Dorothy had any children either, so I am afraid Mary Pauline's line finished there.

Mary Pauline and Frank divorced at some stage and Frank remarried to a Veronica Cooper.  From one of the letters: "Lal's mother lived in Melbourne with May, so Lal used to arrive every Mother's Day under protest in a suit.  That's the only time he visited Melbourne, and would go home the next day.    Mrs Dundee never remarried, but lived to a very old age and died in Melbourne."  I have just had a look at the electoral rolls, and Mary Pauline appears at least up to 1954 at 69 Millswyn Street, South Yarra, when she would have been 86.  She died in 1963 and is buried at the Springvale cemetery. http://www.deceasedsearch.com/page-o3980269-en.html   I am also pretty sure that May was actually "Mairnie Agnes" - she died in 1995.  I have never looked into this family very much, but might be time to look at some Tassie indexes for the children's proper names.

There are a few Lowther mentions at http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ including Frank and Mary's marriage announcement.

I will have a read through the letters and see if there is anything else of interest for you.

Debra

[Dundee]

Regarding Lowthers in Tasmania and answering the post on flickr mentioned above - Gorges Markham Lowther was the son of William St George Pendruddocke Lowther and Helen Wordsworth Spofforth.  He was born in 1868 in Glamorgan, Wales.  He married Edith, eldest daughter of Gorges McDonald Lowther in 1893 at Sydney and they later settled in Tasmania.

Their respective fathers were brothers, so Gorges Markham and Edith were first cousins.  William St George was baptised at Orcheston in 1833, and Gorges McDonald was baptised at Longford in Derby in 1824. (If you are looking for him on the IGI, he is under the name Gorgy MacDonald Lowther)

William St George Lowther and Helen arrived in Melbourne with their 10 children in Feb 1882 on the "Potosi", and another daughter Margaret Pauline was born in 1883 in Tasmania.  If you put the name Lowther in the search box here http://eheritage.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/  you will see that they are all buried in Tas.  William St G's obit (1921) should be available to read soon on http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/

You just have to go back and connect with the family shown here http://thepeerage.com/p3193.htm

Debra