'''Herbert Ingram Low''' (c. 1867 – 3 June 1910)<ref name=Worker>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145898419 |title=Herbert Low |newspaper=The Worker (Wagga) |volume=19 |issue=23 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=9 June 1910 |accessdate=27 December 2025 |page=21 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> was an English-born journalist in Australia.
==History== Low was born in England, a member of a journalistic family: among his brothers were Walter H. Low, Sir Sidney J. Low, Sir A. Maurice Low in America, and Ernest W. Low of Nairobi; Frances Helena Low was a sister,<ref name=Worker/> as was Barbara Low, the psychoanalyst. He came out to Victoria in 1889 and first worked for the Melbourne ''Evening Standard'' as their representative in Sydney, also did literary work for "The Star."<ref name=SSun/>
He worked as a journalist with ''The Age'' for five years and ''Sydney Morning Herald'' for seven; mostly as leader and feature writer. After leaving ''The Age'' he was prominent as a witness in the case of Speight v. Syme, in which the railways commissioner sued the newspaper proprietor for libel.<ref name=Worker/> His columns for the ''SMH'' include "The Shifting Scene" and "Fugitive Notes", but he was successfully sued by the management of that newspaper.<ref name=Worker/>
He contributed to the short-lived Melbourne weekly ''To-day'', to the labour union journal ''The Worker'' and ''The Newsletter: An Australian Paper for Australian People'', in which he dropped several hints that he was their pseudonymous contributor "The Insect".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article102706896 |title=Current Topics |newspaper=The Newsletter: An Australian Paper for Australian People |volume=9 |issue=10 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=2 December 1905 |accessdate=27 December 2025 |page=14 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article102704624 |title=The Insect |newspaper=The Newsletter: An Australian Paper for Australian People |volume=9 |issue=27 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=24 March 1906 |accessdate=27 December 2025 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> He also wrote briefly for the Brisbane ''Courier-Mail'' but soon returned to Sydney, where he died at Newtown of cancer aged 43<ref name=Worker/> or 44. His remains were interred at Rookwood Cemetery, where mourners included his brother Ernest Low, Fred J. Broomfield, Claude Marquet, Fred Brown, James S. Ryan, W. B. Melville, Henry Lawson, J. Harland Tucker, and Archie Conningham.<ref name=SSun>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article226879113 |title=Death of Herbert Low |newspaper=The Sunday Sun |issue=375 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=5 June 1910 |accessdate=27 December 2025 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
In an obituary, Low was credited with fluid, generous writing, but a sensitivity to adverse criticism, when he was prone to fierce retaliation.<ref name=Worker/> Victor Daley rated him highly and William Bede Melville, who found his moods impenetrable, called his obituary of William Patrick Crick<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145757105 |title=William Patrick Crick |newspaper=The Worker (Wagga) |volume=17 |issue=36 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=3 September 1908 |accessdate=27 December 2025 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> the finest and most generous.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145896451 |title=A Few Phases of Herbert Low |newspaper=The Worker |volume=19 |issue=24 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=16 June 1910 |accessdate=27 December 2025 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
== An obituary of sorts == *{{cite news |author=Henry Lawson |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article107961421 |title=Bohemia Buries Her Dead |newspaper=The Blue Mountain Echo |volume=II |issue=69 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=25 June 1910 |accessdate=27 December 2025 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}}
== References == {{Reflist}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Low, Herbert}} Category:1867 births Category:1910 deaths Category:English emigrants to Australia Category:Australian journalists Category:19th-century Australian journalists Category:19th-century Australian male journalists