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Fred Lowry
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Fred Lowry
Thomas Frederick Lowry (c. 1836 – 30 August 1863), better known as Fred Lowry, was an Australian bushranger whose crimes included horse theft, mail-coach robbery, prison escape, and assault with a deadly weapon. Lowry briefly rode with the Gardiner–Hall gang, but soon afterwards formed his own gang with John Foley.
His purported last words after being shot by police during apprehension, "Tell 'em I died game", cemented his place as the archetypal Australian bushranger.
Thomas Frederick Lowry was born c. 1836 in Windsor, New South Wales, to former convicts, James Lowry and Ellen Jackson. Lowry had five siblings—three brothers and two sisters. The Lowry family eventually settled in the Young district inland of the Great Dividing Range, which had seen increasingly dense settlement since the early 1830s. Lowry and his brothers became stockmen and Lowry, who was described as gaunt and tall—exceeding six feet (180 centimetres)—gained a reputation as a good horseman and skillful horse-breaker.
In the early 1850s, when he was around 18 years old, Lowry began stealing cattle and developed a method of modifying brands by rubbing oil over the existing brand, covering it with a piece of oil-soaked hessian, and applying an iron to shape a forged brand.
In 1858 it was reported that "for some considerable time" a gang of horse-stealers had been operating in the Lachlan district and using the refuge of the Weddin mountains, south-west of Grenfell. Fred Lowry, using aliases such as Frederick McGregor and Samuel Barber, was described as the gang's "travelling agent or man of business", who had established an overland trade in horses between the Lachlan and Murrumbidgee districts. Lowry had an accomplice in the Murrumbidgee district who disposed of stolen horses from the Lachlan district and, in a mutual exchange arrangement, furnished Lowry with Murrumbidgee horses. Lowry was also involved in stealing horses in the Murrumbidgee district; on 25 June 1858 Thomas Lowry (alias Samuel Barber), described as a horse-breaker by profession, was suspected of stealing two horses from John Lupton, near Wagga Wagga.
In early July 1858, after information was received of the gang's whereabouts in the Weddin mountains, a party of police from Cowra and several volunteers set out in pursuit. After "scouring the country for five or six days" the police and volunteers arrived at a place called 'The Ladder', known as a rocky stronghold in the region. As the police came within sight Lowry broke cover and galloped away at speed. The pursuers set off after him, calling upon him to surrender, which he did after a shot was fired at him. Lowry was captured in company with Sarah McGregor (alias Cowell), described as "a lady of questionable repute, well known for her equestrian feats in the Weddin country" with whom Lowry "has been cohabiting with him for some time past". The police found two stolen horses in Lowry's possession: a bay gelding they believed was one of the horses stolen from John Lupton near Wagga Wagga and a bay mare and foal stolen from a station on 'The Levels'.
On their journey from the Weddin mountains to Bathurst the police patrol stopped for the night at King's Plains (near Blayney) and their two prisoners were placed in separate cells in the local lock-up. In the middle of the night the lock-up keeper, Constable Leonard, entered Sarah's cell and "made improper overtures to her, which she indignantly repulsed". Leonard "repeated this abominable conduct at a later hour of the night, but with no better success". When they reached Bathurst the two prisoners made a complaint to the authorities and the constable was suspended (and later charged with "having feloniously assaulted... a prisoner under his charge").
At the Bathurst Police Court on 22 July 1858 Frederick McGregor (alias Thomas Lowry, alias Samuel Barber) and Sarah McGregor (alias Cowell) were charged with horse-stealing, and remanded to appear again. On 5 August the pair were charged with stealing a bay horse from Joseph West's 'Oma' station near Bathurst. The case "was fully proved" and both prisoners were committed to stand trial at the Bathurst Court of Quarter sessions in early September 1858. Sarah McGregor was found to be not guilty and the charge was dismissed and Fred Lowry (under the name Frederick McGregor) was convicted of horse-stealing and sentenced on 8 September to five years' hard labour "on the roads". He was incarcerated in the prison established on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour.
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Fred Lowry
Thomas Frederick Lowry (c. 1836 – 30 August 1863), better known as Fred Lowry, was an Australian bushranger whose crimes included horse theft, mail-coach robbery, prison escape, and assault with a deadly weapon. Lowry briefly rode with the Gardiner–Hall gang, but soon afterwards formed his own gang with John Foley.
His purported last words after being shot by police during apprehension, "Tell 'em I died game", cemented his place as the archetypal Australian bushranger.
Thomas Frederick Lowry was born c. 1836 in Windsor, New South Wales, to former convicts, James Lowry and Ellen Jackson. Lowry had five siblings—three brothers and two sisters. The Lowry family eventually settled in the Young district inland of the Great Dividing Range, which had seen increasingly dense settlement since the early 1830s. Lowry and his brothers became stockmen and Lowry, who was described as gaunt and tall—exceeding six feet (180 centimetres)—gained a reputation as a good horseman and skillful horse-breaker.
In the early 1850s, when he was around 18 years old, Lowry began stealing cattle and developed a method of modifying brands by rubbing oil over the existing brand, covering it with a piece of oil-soaked hessian, and applying an iron to shape a forged brand.
In 1858 it was reported that "for some considerable time" a gang of horse-stealers had been operating in the Lachlan district and using the refuge of the Weddin mountains, south-west of Grenfell. Fred Lowry, using aliases such as Frederick McGregor and Samuel Barber, was described as the gang's "travelling agent or man of business", who had established an overland trade in horses between the Lachlan and Murrumbidgee districts. Lowry had an accomplice in the Murrumbidgee district who disposed of stolen horses from the Lachlan district and, in a mutual exchange arrangement, furnished Lowry with Murrumbidgee horses. Lowry was also involved in stealing horses in the Murrumbidgee district; on 25 June 1858 Thomas Lowry (alias Samuel Barber), described as a horse-breaker by profession, was suspected of stealing two horses from John Lupton, near Wagga Wagga.
In early July 1858, after information was received of the gang's whereabouts in the Weddin mountains, a party of police from Cowra and several volunteers set out in pursuit. After "scouring the country for five or six days" the police and volunteers arrived at a place called 'The Ladder', known as a rocky stronghold in the region. As the police came within sight Lowry broke cover and galloped away at speed. The pursuers set off after him, calling upon him to surrender, which he did after a shot was fired at him. Lowry was captured in company with Sarah McGregor (alias Cowell), described as "a lady of questionable repute, well known for her equestrian feats in the Weddin country" with whom Lowry "has been cohabiting with him for some time past". The police found two stolen horses in Lowry's possession: a bay gelding they believed was one of the horses stolen from John Lupton near Wagga Wagga and a bay mare and foal stolen from a station on 'The Levels'.
On their journey from the Weddin mountains to Bathurst the police patrol stopped for the night at King's Plains (near Blayney) and their two prisoners were placed in separate cells in the local lock-up. In the middle of the night the lock-up keeper, Constable Leonard, entered Sarah's cell and "made improper overtures to her, which she indignantly repulsed". Leonard "repeated this abominable conduct at a later hour of the night, but with no better success". When they reached Bathurst the two prisoners made a complaint to the authorities and the constable was suspended (and later charged with "having feloniously assaulted... a prisoner under his charge").
At the Bathurst Police Court on 22 July 1858 Frederick McGregor (alias Thomas Lowry, alias Samuel Barber) and Sarah McGregor (alias Cowell) were charged with horse-stealing, and remanded to appear again. On 5 August the pair were charged with stealing a bay horse from Joseph West's 'Oma' station near Bathurst. The case "was fully proved" and both prisoners were committed to stand trial at the Bathurst Court of Quarter sessions in early September 1858. Sarah McGregor was found to be not guilty and the charge was dismissed and Fred Lowry (under the name Frederick McGregor) was convicted of horse-stealing and sentenced on 8 September to five years' hard labour "on the roads". He was incarcerated in the prison established on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour.
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