William Lowry

{{Short description|Northern Irish judge and politician (1884–1949)}}

{{For|those of a similar name|William Lowry House (disambiguation){{!}}William Lowry House|William Lowrie|Bill Lowrey (disambiguation){{!}}William Lowrey}}

William Lowry, PC (NI), KC (19 March 1884 – 14 December 1949), was a Northern Irish barrister, judge, Ulster Unionist Party Member of Parliament, and Attorney General for Northern Ireland.

Career

Born in Limavady, he was educated at Foyle College, Derry, and Queen's University Belfast. He was called to the Irish Bar in 1907 and was appointed as King's Counsel in 1926. In 1939, he was elected to the Northern Ireland House of Commons as a Unionist member for Londonderry, City, which he represented until 1947. Conor Cruise O'Brien described him as a "unionist of a rather fiercer description." He served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Home Affairs from 1940–1943 and Minister of Home Affairs from 1943–1944.

In February 1944, Lowry commented while Parliament was in session that a local Orange Order Meeting Hall, which had been used by Catholics of the US Army after he had arranged it, would have to be fumigated. His remarks, recorded in the minutes of the day,The Parliamentary Debates (Official Report) in the 7th Sessions of the 5th Parliament of Northern Ireland, Vol. XXVII. Excerpt's 2 February 1944: Debate on an Address in response to the King's Speech, and 8 Feb 1944: Interjection by a Minister [Raising a question at the end of a session]. attracted immediate criticism from fellow ministers, and Lowry was forced to write an apology to The Most Rev. Dr Neil Farren, Bishop of Derry, two days later, though he was adamant that he had misunderstood the situation.Rafferty, Catholicism in Ulster 1603–1983: An Interpretive History (Dublin, 1994), pp. 242–243. O'Brien, however, maintained that Lowry's comments were meant as an ironic and sarcastic response to anti-Catholic extremists on the benches who had objected to the use of the Orange Hall, and he maintained a respect for Lowry throughout his life.O'Brien, C. C. Memoir: My Life and times, (Dublin, 1998), pp. 84–85.

Lowry later went on to serve as Attorney General for Northern Ireland from 1944–1947. He resigned from the Government and from Parliament upon appointment as a Judge of the High Court of Northern Ireland in 1947,LOWRY, Rt Hon. William', Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U228392, accessed 29 Dec 2011] as which he served until retiring shortly before his death. He was appointed to the Privy Council for Northern Ireland in 1943, entitling him to the style The Right Honourable. His son, Lord Lowry, was a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary.