The Home Secretary Robert Lowe stands reading a manuscript. Colour lithograph by F. Betbeder, ca. 1873.

Politician and scholar of Latin and Greek. Lowe had established himself as a reform politician when he emigrated to Australia in 1842. On his return to England he continued in the same vein holding subordinate positions in the ministries of Lord Aberdeen, Lord Palmerston and later William Gladstone under whom he served as chancellor of the exchequer and home secretary. Raised to the peerage under the title of Viscount Sherbrooke. The reference to the philosophical poem 'The traveller' by Oliver Goldsmith refers to Lowe's previous travels

Lowe leans on a table with a feather pen behind his ear

[London] : [publisher not identified], [1873?]

1 print : lithograph, printed in colours ; sheet 21.8 x 13.7 cm

The London sketchbook. Rt Hon. Robert Lowe, M.P., Home Secretary. F Lettering below includes an extract from Oliver Goldsmith's 'The traveller': "Such is the patriot's boast, where'er we roam, His first, best country ever is at home"

Wellcome Collection 588780i