Sir John Low

Sir John Low (1788–1880) was a Scottish general in the Indian Army and political administrator.

Born at Clatto, near Cupar, Fifeshire, he was 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.

On 17 July 1805 Low was appointed 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.

Low saw in his early years varied military service. He was attached to the office of the quartermaster-general, 11 May 1810; rejoined his corps in February 1811; was attached to the 59th Foot in the Java expedition of 1811, and was wounded at the storming of Fort Cornelis. He was brigade-major in the ceded districts, and was Persian interpreter and head of the intelligence staff to Colonel Dowse in the South Mahratta country in 1812–13. He was in commissariat charge of Brigadier William Tuyl's force sent against the Guntoor rebels in 1816; and was present at the defeat of the Mahrattas at the Battle of Mahidpur, 21 December 1817, as extra aide-de-camp to Sir John Malcolm. In March following, as first political assistant to Malcolm, he was employed with a force of three thousand men and ten guns in pacifying the Chindwarra district.

Low induced the Mahratta Peshwa, Baji Rao II, to place himself under British protection. When Baji Rao retired to Bithoor, near Kanpur, Low was appointed Resident there. He filled the post for six years. From that time Low's services were mostly political, though at Lucknow and later at Hyderabad his functions included the control of troops. In 1825 he became political agent at Jeypore. In 1830 he was appointed by Lord William Bentinck to a similar post in Gwalior State, where he opposed the regent Baiza Bai. In 1831 he was sent as Resident to Lucknow.

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