{"id":1188,"date":"2020-02-16T19:44:50","date_gmt":"2020-02-16T19:44:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/?p=1188"},"modified":"2025-07-15T15:39:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T14:39:17","slug":"loves-young-dream-lowther-lawson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2020\/02\/16\/loves-young-dream-lowther-lawson\/","title":{"rendered":"Love\u2019s young dream (Lowther Lawson)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lowther Lawson’s youthful romance is my topical topic (!) for the weekend after Valentine’s Day. Because while it started out as a romantic story, the romance didn’t last much longer than a bunch of over-priced roses. (Personally, I think Valentine’s Day is the LEAST<\/em> romantic day of the year, by the way).<\/p>\n

Gretna Green<\/h2>\n

In 1833, 22-year old Jane Clapperton ran away from home with 23-year-old Lowther Lawson. To Gretna Green, where they married on November 27.<\/p>\n

If that sounds wonderfully romantic, it actually seems to be\u00a0 <\/span>more a case of \u2018act in haste, repent at leisure\u2019.<\/p>\n

Their daughter Agnes was baptised five months later, so if they\u2019d not eloped, it seems likely Jane\u2019s parents (at least) would have been pushing for them to marry anyway.<\/p>\n

Within six years, they were living apart. And Lowther Lawson went on to establish a very complicated family tree!<\/p>\n

‘I live at Drumburgh Castle’<\/h2>\n

We can\u2019t know if they ever did live together really, . But for sure, in 1841, Jane and young Agnes are living with her parents at Burgh by Sands.<\/p>\n

While Lowther Lawson is living with two older brothers, in Drumburgh. Not just any old place:<\/p>\n

I live at Drumburgh Castle. My father was the lord\u2019s bailiff there.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So he told an inquiry into fishing rights on the Solway, saying he himself began to act as bailiff in 1847.<\/p>\n

Jumping forward to 1851, and Jane is still at Burgh, described as married, with her daughter.<\/p>\n

Her husband, still living with his brothers, put his status down as \u2018single\u2019.<\/p>\n

Alas, poor Jane<\/h2>\n

And that was kind of that for Jane. She was in Burgh in 1861, married \u2013 as was Agnes by then. Sadly, Agnes had died by 1871, leaving Jane looking after two of her children (the eldest isn\u2019t to be found), and Agnes\u2019 husband Josiah Hodgson farming nearby.<\/p>\n

(In 1881, 1891. and 1901, Josiah Hodgson was sharing his home with a \u2018housekeeper\u2019 called Mary Jackson).<\/p>\n

Another ‘housekeeper’<\/h2>\n

So, what was \u2018unmarried\u2019 Lowther Lawson up to?<\/p>\n

Well, by 1871, he was the head of the household at Drumburgh Castle. And he, too, had a housekeeper.<\/p>\n

Ann Skelton was 49 (Lowther Lawson 59), and a widow. And very obligingly, Lowther Lawson was accommodating three of her children.<\/p>\n

Another absent husband<\/h2>\n

Ann Skelton\u2019s life hadn\u2019t been totally smooth till then, either.<\/p>\n

Born Ann Wood, she married Jeremiah Skelton in 1848. They and two infant sons are living with her parents at Easton in 1851.<\/p>\n

But in 1861, she is living in Port Carlisle, with five children and a domestic servant. While Jeremiah is nowhere to be found.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no sign him after that, either \u2013 not on the census returns, and not in the death index.<\/p>\n

Mr and er, ?MRS Lawson?<\/h2>\n

But by 1871 at Drumburgh Castle, Ann Skelton has with her\u2026 Ann Skelton, aged 9 (actually born 1863).<\/p>\n

If that wasn\u2019t odd enough, the 1881 census has:<\/p>\n

117 St James\u2019 Road, Cummersdale.<\/p>\n

Lowther Lawson, 70;<\/p>\n

Ann Lawson, wife, 60;<\/p>\n

Ann Lawson, daughter, 19.<\/p>\n

and visitor Jane Skelton, 24 (actually Ann\u2019s daughter by Josiah).<\/p>\n

Lowther\u2019s \u2018forgotten\u2019 wife Jane may have died by then; Jeremiah Skelton may have died by then. But there is no sign of a marriage between Lowther Lawson and Ann.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Who was the daddy?<\/h2>\n

A further puzzle. In 1861, at Port Carlisle, Ann Skelton has a son Thomas Hewson Skelton, aged 2. Poor mite died in 1864. Why does the grave of Lowther Lawson’s father say:<\/p>\n

‘Also of Thomas Hewson grandson of the above..’?<\/b><\/p>\n

Lowther Lawson’s will<\/h2>\n

Lowther Lawson died in 1885.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

His will makes no mention of any of his grandchildren by his marriage to Jane Clapperton.<\/p>\n

Instead, he leaves his estate to: \u2018Ann Lawson Skelton, at present residing with me.\u2019<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not Ann Wood\/Skelton\/maybe Lawson. That\u2019s Ann Skelton born 1863.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Either Lowther Lawson was being very generous to his favourite step-daughter, or, she was his child.<\/p>\n

I imagine her mother had died between 1881-1885, but can\u2019t see a match as Ann Skelton or Ann Lawson. But then that\u2019s pretty much par for the course with the above lot!<\/p>\n

Ann Wood\/Skelton, for the record, died in 1912. As Ann Skelton, at Raby. She is named on the gravestone of her parents, William and Jane Wood.<\/p>\n

Who was Ann Millican?<\/h2>\n

Lowther Lawson\u2019s will has one final puzzle. If Ann Lawson Skelton should die without having children, her inheritance would transfer to Mrs Ann Millican of Mealrigg, and her children.<\/p>\n

Mrs Ann Millican of Mealrigg looks to have been n\u00e9e Foster and born about 1847\/8 in Cardewlees. No apparent link at all \u2013 except she called a child Lowther Lawson Millican in 1871, for some reason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lowther Lawson’s youthful romance is my topical topic (!) for the weekend after Valentine’s Day. Because while it started out as a romantic story, the romance didn’t last much longer than a bunch of over-priced roses. (Personally, I think Valentine’s Day is the LEAST romantic day of the year, by the way). Gretna Green In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1189,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[270],"class_list":["post-1188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cumbria-history","tag-drumburgh-castle"],"yoast_head":"\nLove\u2019s young dream (Lowther Lawson) - Cumbrian Characters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lowther Lawson, of Drumburgh Castle, eloped to Gretna Green with Jane Clapperton in 1833. 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