Social Victorians/People/Rowton

Also Known As

 * Family name: Lowry-Corry
 * Monty Lowry-Corry
 * The Right Honourable, the Lord Rowton
 * Lord Rowton
 * Baron Rowton
 * Montagu William Lowry-Corry, 1st Baron Rowton (6 May 1880 – 9 November 1903)

Friends

 * Benjamin Disraeli, Lord Beaconsfield
 * Violet, Marchioness of Granby (Rowton was rumored to be the father of Violet Manners )

Organizations

 * Harrow
 * Trinity College, Cambridge
 * Benjamin Disraeli's private secretary (1866 – 1868; 1874 – 1880 or 19 April 1881 )
 * Chairman, Rowton Houses Company ( – 9 November 1903)
 * Chairman, Guiness Trust ( – 9 November 1903)

Timeline
1878, Rowton served as "one of the secretaries of the special embassy of Great Britain" at the Congress of Berlin, accompanying Disraeli.

1881 April 19, Rowton was with Disraeli when he died in London, having hurried back from Algiers.

1897 July 2, Friday, Montagu William Lowry-Corry, 1st Baron Rowton attended the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball at Devonshire House.

Costume at the Duchess of Devonshire's 2 July 1897 Fancy-dress Ball
At the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball, Montagu Lowry-Corry, 1st Baron Rowton (at 189) sat at Table 9 in the first seating for supper. He was the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Queen Elizabeth procession. Lafayette's portrait of "Montagu William Lowry Corry, Baron Rowton as Archbishop of Canterbury in the Elizabethan Procession" in costume is photogravure #73 in the album presented to the Duchess of Devonshire and now in the National Portrait Gallery. The printing on the portrait says, "Lord Rowton as Archbishop of Canterbury in the Elizabethan Procession," with a Long S in Procession.
 * He was dressed as Archbishop Parker, the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Queen Elizabeth procession.
 * "Notable" was "Lord Rowton, to the amusement of his friends, as Archbishop Parker." (This description of Rowton's costume in the Times article is identical to the description in the Carlisle Patriot ).
 * Referencing the Times, which was contradicting itself, the Westminster Gazette  and the London Evening Mail  say he was Archbishop Farrer, but

Matthew Parker (6 August 1504 – 17 May 1575), made Archibishop of Canterbury by Elizabeth, was involved in a complex dispute about the validity of his consecration that was newly alive in the late 1890s. (A portrait of him not in regalia is on the right.) In 1896, rejecting the validity of the consecration ceremony, a Catholic Papal Bull Commission condemned Anglican orders, contributing to the claim that Parker's promotion to Archibishop was invalid. In 1897 Anglican bishops of Canterbury and York issued arguments in defense of it.

The printing on the portrait in the Album says he was dressed as Archbishop of Canterbury in the Elizabethan Procession, not giving any name. Even though the Times and then the Westminster Gazette and the London Evening Mail say he was Archbishop Farrer, no Farrer was Archbishop of Canterbury during Elizabeth's reign or Archbishop ever. Robert Ferrar, Bishop of St. David's in Wales, appointed by Edward VI, was martyred in Queen Mary's reign and burned at the stake. Both men could have worn mitres, as Corry does in his portrait.

Demographics

 * Nationality: British

Residences

 * Country house: Rowton Castle, Shropshire (6 May 1880, 1889 – 9 November 1903)

Family

 * Henry Thomas Lowry-Corry (9 March 1803 – 6 March 1873)
 * Lady Harriet Ashley-Cooper ( – 25 March 1868)
 * 1) Armar Henry Lowry-Corry (14 March 1836 – 9 September 1893)
 * 2) Montagu William Lowry-Corry, 1st Baron Rowton (8 October 1838 – 9 November 1903)

Relations

 * Montagu Lowry-Corry was rumored to be the father of Violet Manners.

Notes and Questions

 * 1) Whether Lord Rowton was dressed as Matthew Parker or Robert Ferrar, why were his friends amused by his being dressed this way?