Enoch Louis Lowe

Enoch Louis Lowe I Clongowes 1833-1836

Enoch Louis Lowe (1820-92), governor of Maryland, USA, was a native of Frederick County, Maryland, who attended Clongowes in 1833-6. His early education was at St John’s Jesuit school in Frederick, and after Clongowes he completed his secondary education at Stonyhurst in Lancashire. He was a bright and outgoing student, particularly interested in English literature. After a tour of the Continent, he returned to America and was admitted to the Maryland bar in 1845. He soon became involved in politics and proved a gifted orator, especially ‘on the stump’. In 1852 he won election to the Maryland legislature as a Democrat. In 1851, after a hotly contested campaign, he was elected governor of Maryland, holding office until 1854. During his tenure, the state constitution of 1851 was ratified, construction on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was completed to the Ohio River, the office of comptroller of the treasury was established, election-law amendments were supported, criminal law reforms were recommended, and the state deficit and taxation were reduced. The Washington administration offered him the ambassadorship to China, which he declined. In the civil war of 18615, like most Marylanders he sided with the South. He participated in the decision to break down the bridges around Baltimore to impede the advance of the Union army. In danger of arrest, he took refuge in Richmond, the Confederate capital, and remained in the South until the war ended. He then moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he practised successfully as a lawyer. He is buried at Frederick, Maryland.