Thomas Lower (abt. 1632 - 1720)

Born about 1632 in St Tudy, Cornwall, England

Ancestors

Husband of Mary (Fell) Lower — married 26 Aug 1668 in Swarthmoor, Lancashire, England

Died 5 May 1720 at about age 88 in London, England

Biography

Thomas Lower is Notable.

Thomas was a Friend (Quaker)

Thomas Lower was born in Cornwall, England.

Thomas was the son of Humphrey Lower^[1][2] of St Tudy, Cornwall and Margery Billing or Billinge.^[2] He was 88 when he died in 1720 so he was born in about 1632.^[3] He was baptised on 11 August 1633 at St Tudy, Cornwall.^[4][5][6]

He became a scholar of Winchester College in 1646.^[2]

Thomas was a doctor and Quaker.^[7] In 1656, when George Fox was in prison in Cornwall, Thomas visited him and offered him money, which Fox declined.^[8]

His first wife was Elizabeth Trelawny, daughter of Sir John Trelawny Bt. She was some sixteen years older than him and died in about 1662.^[1][2] They had no children.^[9]

In 1663 Thomas met Mary Fell in Cornwall while she, her mother, a sister and others were visiting Friends' meetings in England.^[1] On 26 August 1668 they married at Swarthmoor Hall, Lancashire.^[10][7] Her mother had initially been opposed to the match.^[7] Initially they lived at Tregangeeves, then London, and then at a home called Pennance near St Austell, Cornwall.^[7] In 1676 they bought Marsh Grange, a Fell family property near Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire.^[11][12]

Thomas and Mary had six daughters and four sons between 1673 and 1688, but only four girls and one boy reached adulthood:^[7]

• Margaret, born in June 1673 at Swarthmoor Hall, Lancashire^[7][13]
• Margery, born in 1675, who married Benjamin Robinson of London^[14]
• Humphry or Humfrey, born in 1676^[15] and buried on 19 August 1679^[16]
• Loveday, born in 1677, who married William Swan of Halstead, Essex^[14][17]
• Mary, born in 1678, who married William Arch of London^[14][18]
• Thomas, born in 1679^[19] and buried on 16 September 1680^[20]
• Richard, born in 1681, died in 1704^[14][21]
• Sarah, born in 1682^[22] and buried on 5 February 1682/3^[23]
• Edward, born in 1685^[24] and buried on 30 October the same year^[25]
• Bridget, born in 1688, who married Evan Ward of London^[14][26]

In 1673 Thomas was imprisoned with George Fox at Worcester, Worcestershire because of his Quaker activity but he was told he could be released after the court hearing.^[27] He insisted on staying with Fox in prison.^[2] He was imprisoned again in Cornwall in 1683, not finally being released until 1686.^[2] On a number of occasions Thomas sought to intervene with the authorities to try and persuade them to ease the persecution of Quakers.^[28]

George Fox dictated his memoirs in the form in which they were published as his Journal, to Thomas Lower, drawing on notebooks and other papers.^[29][30] When George Fox died in 1691, he appointed Thomas one of his literary executors.^[31]

By 1693 Thomas was living in London, probably in Hammersmith, and practising as a doctor.^[2] That year his sister-in-law Sarah told her mother how successful he was. He must have built up a significant medical reputation as three years later Daniel Philips of Leyden dedicated to him a work on smallpox.^[32]

In the 1690s he was once more active trying to ease the sufferings of Quakers. With George Whitehead and Daniel Quare he presented an account of these sufferings to William III.^[2] He also wrote a small number of Quaker tracts around this time.^[2]

He gave land for a Quaker burial ground at Tregangreeves, Cornwall.^[2]

In 1715 Thomas bought some of the American property which had been held by George Fox.^[2]

In 1717 Thomas obtained a licence to mine iron near Dalton-in-Furness, but there is no evidence he ever engaged in mining activity there.^[33]

Thomas died in London on 5 May 1720 at the age 88 and was buried at Bunhill Fields on 9 May 1720. His Quaker burial record describes him as of Hammersmith.^[2][34]

Research Notes

Children

Thomas Lower’s entires in both the Dictionary of National Biography and the Dictionary of National Biography state that he and Mary Fell had nine daughters and one son. This is incorrect. Birth records, cited above, confirm the statement by Isabell Ross in her biography of Margaret Fell that they had six daughters and four sons.^[7]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Isabel Ross. Margaret Fell, Mother of Quakerism, 2nd edition, William Sessions, 1984, pp. 158-159
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry for 'Lower, Thomas', 2004, available online via some libraries
3. ↑ Isabel Ross, Margaret Fell, p. 361
4. ↑ Cornwall Baptisms, FindMy Past
5. ↑ England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J39F-3Y9
6. ↑ Baptism index, Cornwall Online Parish Clerks, Thomas Lower baptised 11 Aug 1633, accessed 18 October 2019
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6} Isabel Ross. Margaret Fell, Mother of Quakerism, 2nd edition, William Sessions, 1984, pp. 206-211
8. ↑ George Fox (ed. Norman Penney). The Journal of George Fox, J M Dent & Sons, 1924, p. 133
9. ↑ Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, entry for ’Lower, Thomas', Wikisource
10. ↑ England & Wales, Society Of Friends (Quaker) Marriages 1578-1841, LANCASHIRE: Monthly Meeting of Swarthmore [Swarthmoor], RG6/1267, FindMyPast
11. ↑ Isabel Ross, Margaret Fell, p. 276
12. ↑ H Larry Ingle. First among Friends. George Fox & the Creation of Quakerism, Oxford University Press, 1994, p. 275
13. ↑ England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F31M-P98
14. ↑ ^{14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4} Isabel Ross, Margaret Fell, genealogical table inside end-cover
15. ↑ England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VWZD-TSS
16. ↑ England Deaths and Burials, 1538-1991, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JZY1-76V
17. ↑ England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F7DK-N25
18. ↑ England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F728-QVG
19. ↑ England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FQS8-BYH
20. ↑ England Deaths and Burials, 1538-1991, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JZY1-76B
21. ↑ England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FQJB-CH1
22. ↑ England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FQ6S-8DH
23. ↑ England Deaths and Burials, 1538-1991, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JZY1-7XL
24. ↑ England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FWXX-FL5
25. ↑ England Deaths and Burials, 1538-1991, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JZY1-7J7
26. ↑ England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FWXG-YYX
27. ↑ George Fox, Journal, pp. 316-320
28. ↑ Isabel Ross, Margaret Fell, passim
29. ↑ George Fox, Journal, p. 335 (Appendix)
30. ↑ William C Braithwaite. The Beginnings of Quakerism, 2nd edition, William Sessions, 1981, p. 533 (Appendix)
31. ↑ Isabel Ross, Margaret Fell, p. 357
32. ↑ Isabel Ross, Margaret Fell, p. 358
33. ↑ Isabel Ross, Margaret Fell, p. 272
34. ↑ England & Wales, Society Of Friends (Quaker) Burials 1578-1841, LONDON AND MIDDLESEX: Monthly Meeting of Westminster: Burials, RG6/1512, FindMyPast and accompanying image

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry for 'Lower, Thomas', 2004, available online via some libraries
• Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, entry for ’Lower, Thomas', Wikisource
• Ross, Isabel. Margaret Fell, Mother of Quakerism, 2nd edition, William Sessions, 1984