[2] This was to develop into an obsessive campaign to control Parliamentary representation and dictate civil and military appointments in Westmorland and Cumberland, in which Lowther spent his fortune lavishly and made many enemies.
[1] The height of his electoral power was reached in the general elections of 1780 and 1784, when he obtained the return of two of his candidates for Westmorland, one for Cumberland, two for Cockermouth, one for Appleby, one for Carlisle and two for the Surrey borough of Haslemere, control of which he purchased in 1780.
[1] While politicians of note such as Charles Jenkinson and William Pitt the Younger had heretofore been returned under his direction, his insistence on absolute obedience from the Members he nominated led them to find other seats or break with him.
[12][10] While he was not able to control all nine seats at subsequent elections, he got Penn returned at Lancaster in 1796 after a string of defeats,[17] and continued his expensive and unscrupulous electioneering until his death in 1802.
According to the story, Edmund Burke made a cutting, sarcastic reply to a speech by one of Lonsdale's members that drew cheers from the House of Commons.