Sidney Low

{{short description|British journalist, author and historian}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2014}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = Sir | name = Sidney James Mark Low | image = Sidney Low.jpg | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1857|1|22}} | birth_place = Blackheath, UK | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1932|1|14|1857|1|22}} | death_place = Kensington, UK | body_discovered = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | citizenship = | other_names = | known_for = | education = | alma_mater = Balliol College, Oxford | employer = The ''Standard'' | occupation = Journalist, Author | years_active = | height = | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | political_party = | opponents = | boards = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = Maximilian Low | relatives = Barbara Low (sister) A. Maurice Low (brother) Herbert Low (brother) Ivy Low Litvinov (niece) | callsign = | awards = | website = }} '''Sir Sidney James Mark Low''' (22 January 1857 – 14 January 1932) was a British journalist, historian, and essayist.<ref name=odnb>{{cite ODNB |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/34608 |title=Low, Sir Sidney James Mark (1857–1932) |author=Andrew S. Thompson |date=September 2004 }}</ref><ref>The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0013_0_12790.html |title=Low |year=2008 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Judaica |publisher=Jewish virtual Library |access-date=16 November 2009 }}</ref><ref>Chapman-Huston, Desmond, The Lost Historian: A Memoir of Sir Sidney Low, London, 1936</ref><ref name=whistler>{{cite web |url=http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/correspondence/people/biog/?bid=Low_SJ&initial=L |title=Sidney James Mark Low, 1857–1932 |work=The Correspondence of James McNeill Whistler |publisher=University of Glasgow |access-date=16 November 2009 }}</ref>

==Biography== Low was born to Jewish parents Therese (née Schacherl; 1835–1887) and Maximillian Loewe (1830–1900), who emigrated to Britain from Hungary following the 1848 uprising.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Easley |first=Alexis |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-58328 |title=Low, Frances Helena (1862–1939), journalist and anti-suffragist |date=2018-06-14 |publisher=Oxford University Press |volume=1 |language=en |doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.58328|isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }}</ref>

Following education at King's College School, London he went to the University of Oxford. Initially an undergraduate at Pembroke College, he moved to Balliol when he was awarded a Brakenby scholarship.<ref name="obit" /> He received a first class degree in modern history in 1879.<ref name="obit" /> He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1892.<ref name="obit" />

He was the editor of the ''St. James's Gazette'' from 1888 to 1897, and was a leader writer and literary editor for the ''Standard''.<ref name=obit>{{cite news |title=Obituary: Sir Sidney Low, Journalist and Author |newspaper=The Times |date=14 January 1932 |page=14 }}</ref><ref name=chapman>{{cite book |title=The Lost Historian: A Memoir of Sir Sidney Low |last=Chapman-Huston |first=Desmond |year=1936 |publisher=Murray |location=London }}</ref> He was the paper's special correspondent on a number of occasions, covering such events as the visit of the Prince of Wales to India, the coronation of Haakon VII of Norway and the Hague Conference of 1907.<ref name=obit/> From 1901 to 1905 he was an alderman on the London County Council for the Conservative-backed Moderate Party.<ref name=obit/>

During the First World War he was a journalist in France and Italy, and edited the wireless service of the Ministry of Information.<ref name=obit/> He was knighted in 1918.<ref name=obit/>

Low was twice married. In 1887 he married Elsie Davison, who died in 1921. In 1924 his second marriage was to Ebba Cecilia Byström, of Stockholm,<ref name=obit/> who has translated several works of George Bernard Shaw to Swedish.

He spent his later years writing and lecturing in imperial and colonial history at King's College, London.<ref name=obit/> He died suddenly at his Kensington home in January 1932, aged 74.<ref name=obit/>

==Works== * ''The Dictionary of English History'' (1884) and subsequent editions (in collaboration with F. S. Puling)<ref name=whistler/> ''[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofengl0001lows/page/n7 Link, vol I]'' ''[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofengl0002lows/page/n5/mode/2up Link, vol II]'' * ''[https://archive.org/details/governanceofengl00lowsiala/page/n10/mode/2up The Governance of England]'' (1904), revised edition (1914)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/download/governanceofeng00lowsiala/governanceofeng00lowsiala.pdf |title=The governance of England |year=1914 |publisher=Internet Archive |access-date=16 November 2009 }}</ref> * ''The Political History of the Reign of Queen Victoria'' * ''The British Constitution'' * ''[https://archive.org/details/egyptintransiti00lowgoog/page/n8/mode/2up Egypt in Transition]'' (1914)<ref>{{cite book |author=Sir Sidney Low |url=https://www.questia.com/library/book/egypt-in-transition-by-sir-sidney-low.jsp |title=Egypt in Transition |year=1914 |publisher= The MacMillan Company |location=New York}}</ref> * ''[https://archive.org/details/visionofindia00lowsuoft/page/n8/mode/2up A Vision of India]'' (1906) * ''[https://archive.org/details/historyenglandd00lowgoog/page/n9/mode/2up The History of England during the Reign of Victoria]'' (1907) (in collaboration with L. C. Sanders) * ''A Vision of India as Seen during the Tour of the Prince and Princess of Wales'' (1907) * [https://archive.org/details/spiritofalliedna00lows/page/n7/mode/2up ''The Spirit of the Allied Nations''] (1915) * ''The North American Review'', [https://archive.org/details/jstor-25108839/page/n1/mode/2up ''English Democracy in Wartime''] (1916) * ''[https://archive.org/details/cu31924027811995/page/n10/mode/2up Italy in the War]'' (1916) * ''Igor I Sikorsky'' * ''The British Constitution: Its Growth and Character'' (1928) * ''The Indian States and Ruling Princes'' (1929) * {{cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/02/15/100139320.pdf |title=Suggests Germany wants war with us |newspaper=The New York Times |date=15 February 1915}} * {{cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1904/07/30/120287323.pdf |title=Mr. Alden's views |work=The New York Times |date=30 July 1904}}

In addition to this, Low wrote articles for the ''Dictionary of National Biography''.

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb name|id=0522842}} * {{Wikisource author-inline}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Low, Sidney James Mark}} Category:1857 births Category:1932 deaths Category:19th-century English journalists Category:19th-century English male journalists Category:20th-century English historians Category:20th-century English journalists Category:20th-century English male journalists Category:Academics of King's College London Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Category:British war correspondents Category:Jewish British writers Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Members of London County Council Category:Members of the Inner Temple Category:Municipal Reform Party politicians Category:People educated at King's College School, London