Friday, January 27, 2012

Manley Lowe, youngest son of John and Charlotte Lowe dies

Charlotte (nee Cronin) and John Henry Lowe, 1900, PIVM

"Manley Lowe, the youngest son of Mr and Mrs J H Lowe, fell asleep in Jesus, August 9th 1900 in the fifteenth year of his age.  He came to Poona from New Zealand, ten months ago, and most of this time was spent in school, or in reading under a tutor.  The relaxing climate of India was unsuitable to a boy of his years, and he had not the vigour to throw off an attack of disease resembling cholera which ran its fatal course in seven days.

Manley had the blissful experience of never knowing a time when he did not love Jesus.  He was born in Dunedin, NZ, and received his early education in public schools.  He had serious thoughts of becoming a missionary, and had expressed the desire to study medicine and spend his life in the New Hebrides.  A short time after his arrival in Poona he had the joy of confession Christ publicly in baptism.  His buoyant disposition and gentle manners made him a favourite at No 8 Elphinstone Road where his mother and father presided over one of our Mission Homes; and it was felt that his bright happy ways were the expression of grace more than of nature.  His tutor said of him "Manley was a gentleman at heart" and those who knew him will recognise the truth of the remark..."

p 137, White Already to Harvest, September 1 1900.

The loss of Manley must have influenced the Lowe's decision to leave India to avoid losing another son.  Later in the same newsletter:

"Mr and Mrs J H Lowe expect to return to England September 15th via the Austrian German Lloyd line sailing from Bombay to Trieste.  The immediate occasion of their departure is the state of their son's health which makes a change of climate advisable. .." (p 139).  The newsletter does not say whether Amy Lowe remained in India, but subsequent newsletters may make this clear.

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