Lancelot Lowther, 6th Earl of Lonsdale

Lancelot Edward Lowther, 6th Earl of Lonsdale, OBE, DL (25 June 1867 – 11 March 1953) was an English peer, the youngest son of Henry Lowther, 3rd Earl of Lonsdale.

Lowther was educated at Malvern College and Magdalene College, Cambridge. At Cambridge, he was a member of the University Pitt Club. On 13 October 1886 Lowther was made lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion, The Border Regiment (The Royal Cumberland Militia).

On 24 April 1889, he married Gwendoline Sheffield (d. 1921), daughter of Sir Robert Sheffield, 5th Baronet, by whom he had three children:
 * Lady Barbara Lowther (8 April 1890 – 1979), married Col. (James) Archibald Innes in 1914, divorced 1921, and had issue.
 * Lady Marjorie Lowther (6 February 1895 – 29 July 1968), married George Rodney, 8th Baron Rodney(1891–1973) on 15 September 1917, and had issue.
 * Anthony Lowther, Viscount Lowther (24 September 1896 – 6 October 1949) father of the next Earl James Lowther, 7th Earl of Lonsdale.

Soon thereafter, he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant in the counties his family had traditionally dominated, Cumberland (21 November 1891 ) and Westmorland (26 January 1892 ). In keeping with the family tradition, he enjoyed sports and, by 1905, was a Master of the Drag (drag hunting) and the Deputy Master of the Quorn.

During World War I, he served in the Middle East, and after the war received the OBE (3 June 1919 ) and the Order of the Nile, 4th Class (16 January 1920 ). On 3 June 1922, the aging Lowther, now 55, resigned his deputy lieutenancy of Westmorland.

His first wife, Gwendoline, having died in 1921, he married Sybil Feetham on 8 October 1923, by whom he had one son:
 * Hon. Timothy Lancelot Lowther (b. 27 April 1925)

In 1944, he finally succeeded to the Earldom of Lonsdale on the death of his childless brother, Hugh. Hugh's free-spending, sporting life had largely wrecked the estate, and he was forced to auction off the contents of Lowther Castle in 1947. This proved to be the largest English country house sale of the 20th Century.

Lonsdale's eldest son Anthony predeceased him in 1949; Lonsdale himself died in 1953, and was succeeded by his grandson James.