Mark Antony Lower

Mark Antony Lower F.S.A. M.A. (14 July 1813 – 22 March 1876) was a Sussex historian and schoolteacher who founded the Sussex Archaeological Society. An anti-Catholic propagandist, Lower is believed to have started the "cult of the Sussex Martyrs", although he was against the excesses of the "Bonfire Boys".

Life

Lower was born 14 July 1813, one of six sons of Richard Lower, a schoolmaster, and his wife in Chiddingly. Richard and Mary (née Oxley) gave Lower a good education. It appears he showed an early interest in heraldry as a painted coat of arms in the local church is attributed to him. He worked first at his sister's school in East Hoathly, before further extending the family's interests in local education with a school at Alfriston under his control. Within three years, however, he left to establish another school in Lewes in Sussex in 1835.

He married Mercy Holman in 1835 when his school had moved to St. Anne's House in Lewes High Street. He was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1844. His establishment of the Sussex Archaeological Society with J. H. Hurdis in 1846 established Lower as a well-regarded notable antiquarian. His publication of The Sussex Martyrs, their Examinations and Cruel Burnings in the time of Queen Mary... in 1851 together with an etching by James Henry Hurdis of Richard Woodman and nine other martyrs is credited with establishing the "cult of the Sussex Martyrs". However, it is noted that his Sussex Martyrs was really a re-publication of John Foxe's account in his Book of Martyrs. Although Lower is credited with publicising the Sussex Martyrs, he does not appear to have started the Bonfire Societies. His biography credits him with writing a note complaining of the excesses of the "Bonfire Boys", and he had himself been an active member of the Lewes New Temperance Society.