opposition, and had to be dropped. In 1873 he was transferred to the Home Office, but in 1874 the government resigned. Later years Lowe spoke against the Royal Titles Bill 1876 at East Retford and implied that Queen Victoria had been responsible for the bill's introduction. As a result, when the Liberals returned to power in 1880, Victoria made it clear that she would not accept any ministry that included Lowe. Nevertheless, he was raised to the peerage as Viscount Sherbrooke, of Sherbrooke in the County of Surrey (a peerage that would become extinct on his death), against the express wishes of Queen Victoria, but with the backing of William Gladstone. In 1885, he was also further honoured by being created Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. But from 1875 till his death at Warlingham, Surrey, his health was constantly failing, and by degrees he figured less and less in public life. He became a supporter of the Liberal Unionist party in 1886. During the 1870s the following epitaph was suggested for him by one of the wits of his day: Here lies poor old Robert Lowe; Where he's gone to I don't know; If to the realms of peace and love, Farewell to happiness above; If, haply, to some lower level, We can't congratulate the devil. Lowe was delighted with this, and promptly translated it into Latin, as follows: Continentur hac in fossa Humilis Roberti ossa; Si ad coelum evolabit, Pax in coelo non restabit; Sin in inferis jacebit, Diabolum ejus poenitebit. On his death he was buried in Brookwood Cemetery. Australian federal electoral division The Division of Lowe, a now abolished Australian electoral division located in Sydney, was named after him. Arms See also Liberal Party (UK) Reform Act 1867 UK company law Notes Bibliography Own works Poems of a Life (1884) Sources Briggs, Asa. “Robert Lowe and the Fear of Democracy," in Briggs, Victorian People (1955) pp. 232–263. online External links Parliamentary Archives, Papers of Robert Lowe, Viscount Sherbrooke 1811 births 1892 deaths Chancellors of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom British Secretaries of State Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1852–1857 UK MPs 1857–1859 UK MPs 1859–1865 UK MPs 1865–1868 UK MPs 1868–1874 UK MPs 1874–1880 UK MPs who were granted peerages Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for London University Sherbrooke Knights Grand Cross of the Order