Biography

John Frederic Lowder was a prominent member of the foreign community in Japan from its earliest days until his death. He was born in Shanghai on 15 February 1843, the second son of the Rev. John Lowder, who was the Anglican chaplain to the newly opened consulate. Rutherford Alcock (later Sir Rutherford), first British consul at Shanghai, married John Lowder’s widow in July 1862, when he was minister in Japan. It was the Alcock connection that led to John Frederic Lowder becoming one of the first language students at the British Legation in Japan in June 1860. Lowder joined the Consular Service in 1860 and in January 1868 he was appointed as the Acting Consul for the Consular District of Osako and Hiogo, soon followed by his appointment as the Consul at Niigata in December of that year. Lowder became a law student at Lincoln's Inn, London in November 1870, was called to the bar on 30 April 1872 and resigned from the Consular Service to practise law in Hyde, Manchester. He later returned to Japan and became the legal advisor to the Yokohama Customs House. He died on 27 February 1902 in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. Lowder married Julia Maria Brown (1840-1919) in August 1862, the eldest daughter of the American missionary, the Rev. Samuel Brown.

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