John Low

General Sir John Low (13 December 1788 – 10 January 1880) was a Madras Army officer and colonial administrator.

Early life Born at Clatto House, near Cupar in Fife, the eldest son of Captain Robert Low of Clatto, and his wife (the daughter of Dr. Robert Malcolm).

He was educated at St. Andrews University, attending the sessions of 1802–3 (Register), and in 1804 obtained a Madras cadetship on the nomination of John Hudleston.

Military career On 17 July 1805 Low was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 1st Madras Native Infantry. For the part taken by six of its companies in Vellore mutiny the regiment was disbanded in January 1807; Low became an officer in the reformed 24th Madras Infantry. In 1816 the 24th was renumbered as the 1st Madras Infantry, in recognition of its conduct at the Battle of Sitabuldi. Low became captain in the regiment in 1820, major 17th Madras infantry (late 2nd battalion 24th) in 1828, and lieutenant-colonel 19th Madras infantry in 1834. In 1839 he obtained the colonelcy of his old corps, the 1st Madras Infantry, which he held for the rest of his life. He became a major-general in 1854, lieutenant-general in 1859, general in 1867, and was placed on the retired list in 1874.

Susan Elizabeth Low (1830–1831) Emily Low (1832–1832) Charlotte Herbert Low (1833–1853), who married Sir Theophilus John Metcalfe, 5th Baronet, of the Bengal Civil Service William Malcolm Low (1835–1923), Conservative MP for Grantham, who married Ida Matilda Alice Feilding, daughter of William Feilding, 7th Earl of Denbigh, and is the great-great-grandfather of British politician David Cameron General Sir Robert Cunliffe Low (1838–1911), British Indian Army officer John Alwes Low R.N. (1840–1932), who married Jane Hooper Irvine Low (1841–1881), who married Agnes Harriet Liston Foulis, daughter of Sir William Liston-Foulis, 8th Baronet Augusta Georgina Low (1844–1921) Selina Morison Low (1845–1927)

The history of John Low and his family is told in Ferdinand Mount's book The Tears of the Rajas: Mutiny, Money and Marriage in India 1805–1905.

Honours