mainly for meteorological observations. As well as the usual meteorological instruments it included an Earthquake Pendulum, which ascended 33 ft to the top of the building. The pendulum rod was of deal wood and terminated in a loaded bulb of brass and lead of 2 lbs in weight with a steel point which acted upon a smooth surface of hard baked chalk. When the top of the building was distributed by the shock of an earthquake, the steel point would inscribe a result in the chalk. At the top of the house, he installed Electrometers with lighting wires conducted from trees around the building. These were fed to two gilded balls and cylinders for determining the negative and positive character of the electricity and the relative amount. Lowe's father, Alfred also built another observatory in Beeston behind 9 Lilac Grove near Beeston railway station. This survived until it was demolished in 1965. A Government expedition was despatched to Spain to observe the Solar eclipse of July 18, 1860 and Lowe was placed in charge of the meteorological department in Santander. In 1866 he was the local secretary to the British Association at the Nottingham meeting, and in 1868 president of the Nottingham Literary and Philosophical Society. As a botanist he is denoted by the author abbreviation E.J.Lowe when citing a botanical name. He married Anne Allcock (1829-1911), daughter of George Allcock, in St Mary's Church, Nottingham on 2 January 1849. They had the following children: Major Alfred Edward Lawson Lowe (1849-1888) Hugh Lee Peyton Lowe (1857-1933) In 1882 he moved from Beeston to Shirenewton Hall, near Chepstow, Monmouthshire, where he died on 10 March 1900. Bibliography Our Native Ferns, or a History of the British Species and their Varieties. Groombridge, London 1845. A Treatise on Atmospheric Phaenomena. Longman, London 1846. The Conchology Of Nottingham, or a Popular History Of The Recent Land and Fresh Water Mollusca Found in the Neighbourhood. Bartlett, London 1853. Ferns, British and Exotic. 8 vols. Groombridge, London 1857. A Natural History of British Grasses. Groombridge, London 1857. Beautiful-Leaved Plants, being a Description of the Most Beautiful-Leaved Plants in Cultivation in this Country. Groombridge, London 1861. Gallery References External links Ferns and Pteridomania in Victorian Scotland Ferns:British and Exotic 1825 births 1900 deaths People from Beeston, Nottinghamshire Botanists with author abbreviations English botanists English writers Fellows of the Royal Society 19th-century British astronomers Fellows of the Royal