Thomas Frederick Lowry ( 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.Plain Australian: ‘Die game now, Ned’, by Bill Wannan, The Argus (Melbourne), 27 January 1956, page 4.
Biography
Early life Thomas Frederick Lowry was born in Windsor, New South Wales, to former convicts, James Lowry and Ellen Jackson.Gaol Description and Entrance Books, Parramatta, 1858, page 95 (State Archives NSW, 4/6536; Roll: 176, per Ancestry.com); "Frederick McGregor alias Lowry"; "BColony [born in colony] 1835"; Native Place: "Windsor".Lowry's older sister, Elizabeth Jackson Lowry, born 1830 on Norfolk Island, parents: James Lowry and Ellen Jackson [Ancestry.com. Australia, Birth Index, 1788-1922 (database on-line)]; married Frederick Elliott in 1853, lived in the Lachlan River district; see Lowry's dying reference to "a brother-in-law named Elliott in the employ of a person named Cummins living on the Lachlan" (Capture and Death of Lowry, the Bushranger, Goulburn Herald, 2 September 1863, page 2). Lowry had five siblings—three brothers and two sisters.Clune, chapter XXX, page 378. 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 tallRewards for the Apprehension of Frederick Lowry and William Woodhardt, New South Wales Government Gazette, 24 February 1863 (Issue No. 30), page 456.—exceeding —gained a reputation as a good horseman and skillful horse-breaker.Bushranger and Gambler: Fished After Hold-ups, by O. S. Fowler, Sydney Morning Herald, 16 July 1938, page 13.
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.
Horse-stealing 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.Capture of Lowry, the Lachlan Horsestealer, Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal, 28 July 1858, page 2. 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.New South Wales: Reports of Crime, etc., etc., for Police Information, 19 July 1858 (Issue No. 58), page 2; New South Wales Police Gazettes, Series 10958, Reels 3129-3143, 3594-3606, State Records of New South Wales (per Ancestry.com).
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".Doings in Watchhouses, Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal, 31 July 1858, page 2. 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'.Notice, Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal, 14 August 1858, page 3.
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.Police Court, Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal, 24 July 1858, page 2. 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.Police Court, Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal, 7 August 1858, page 2.Prisoners for Trial at the Bathurst Court of Quarter Sessions, Monday, September 6th, 1858, Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal, 4 September 1858, page 2. 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.Gaol Description and Entrance Book, Bathurst, July 1858, entry numbers 323 and 324; NSW State Archives NSW: Series: 1993; Item: 4/8492; Roll: 251 (per Ancestry.com).Inquest on Lowry, the Bushranger, Yass Courier, 5 September 1863, page 2.
Bushranging Fred Lowry served his time and was probably released from prison in 1862. He joined with John Foley, a skilled horseman from the Oberon district, and the two began committing robberies. Foley and Lowry were of a similar age.
On Sunday, 14 September 1862, the mail contractor, William Weston, was stuck-up by two armed men at a location called the Black Swamp, two miles from Wilson's inn between Cassilis and Mudgee. The bushrangers took the contractor's horse, mail-bags and saddle-bags. The horse was later recovered with the empty mail-bags fastened to the saddle. The bushrangers had their faces covered with crêpe, though at one stage the fabric fell from the face of one man whom Weston was able to identify as Fred Lowry (alias Boyd).More Bushranging, Sydney Morning Herald, 22 September 1862, page 2.Robbery Under Arms, New South Wales Police Gazette and Weekly Record of Crime, 17 September 1862 (Issue No. 29), page 170.Miscellaneous Information, New South Wales Police Gazette and Weekly Record of Crime, 24 September 1862 (Issue No. 30), page 180. On 20 September 1862 Fred Lowry (alias Boyd) and two others stuck up Mr. Lawrence and his men at 'Wilpingong' station near Reedy Creek (north of Rylstone) and robbed them of £29 in notes, a cheque and "two silver hunting watches".Robbery Under Arms, New South Wales Police Gazette and Weekly Record of Crime, 24 September 1862 (Issue No. 30), page 176.
On 2 October 1862 William Todd's store on the Fish River was held up by armed men and robbed of cash totalling about £50 (the number of offenders was initially reported as two). The men had their faces covered, but it was suspected that "Thomas Foley" was one of them.Robbery Under Arms, New South Wales Police Gazette and Weekly Record of Crime, 8 October 1862 (Issue No. 32), page 192. It was later reported that a man named John Cosgrove had been apprehended by the Bathurst Police on suspicion of being one of the men who robbed the store.Miscellaneous Information, New South Wales Police Gazette and Weekly Record of Crime, 15 October 1862 (Issue No. 33), page 202. Cosgrove was a known criminal previously associated with the bushranger, John Peisley.Rockley, Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal, 24 July 1861, page 2. A later account maintained that it was in fact four men that robbed Todd's store and that two of the men had been apprehended (Cosgrove and one other). Of the two who had escaped, one was identified as Fred Lowry.Miscellaneous Information, New South Wales Police Gazette and Weekly Record of Crime, 22 October 1862 (Issue No. 34), page 208. The man initially identified as "Thomas Foley" was John Foley (later indicted for this offence).Robbery of the Mudgee Mail, Empire (Sydney), 11 September 1863, page 2.
Race meeting shooting A race meeting was held on New Year's Day 1863 at a race-course on Daniel McGuirk's land in the Brisbane Valley, south-west of Oberon near the Native Dog Creek diggings. Amongst those who attended were Fred Lowry and John Foley, described as "two men for whom the police have been some time on the look-out". Towards evening after the races were concluded and the prize-money had been paid out, Lowry (by some accounts in a state of drunkenness) "attempted to bail up the persons present".Gemmell-Smith, page 52. Holding a revolver in each hand Lowry sought to drive a number of men towards the house. A man named Allen refused to move and Lowry struck him across the cheek with a revolver, which fired and struck a horse tethered nearby. At this a man named Patrick Foran came out of the house and rushed at Lowry, who fired again, hitting Foran in the chest. Despite his wound Foran held on to Lowry until others intervened and the assailant was secured.Outrage with Firearms, Sydney Morning Herald, 6 January 1863, page 5; reprinted from the Bathurst Free Press.Shooting with Intent to Kill, Sydney Morning Herald, 13 January 1863, page 4; reprinted from the Bathurst Free Press. Lowry was conveyed under heavy guard to Bathurst gaol. The accounts of the events make no mention of John Foley after the shooting; it is assumed he made his departure when his companion was apprehended. A newspaper report of Lowry's capture made the following comments: "There are several charges of robbery against him, and his apprehension will be a source of gratification to the inhabitants of the district, to whom he has long been a terror and a pest".Capture of a Bushranger, Sydney Morning Herald, 3 January 1863, page 5.
Escape from Bathurst gaol On 9 January Frederick Lowry was charged at Bathurst with shooting Patrick Foran with the intent to kill him. He was initially taken before Foran, lying wounded in a precarious state at McDonald's public-house, where depositions were taken, after which he was removed to the Court House before the bench of magistrates where other witnesses were examined.Patrick Foran survived being shot by Lowry; Foran, himself, was convicted of armed robbery in 1867 and served time in Parramatta Gaol; he was living at Black Springs in the Fish River district when he died in 1888; see: Bathurst Circuit Court, Sydney Morning Herald, 23 April 1867, page 2; Gemmell-Smith, page 51.