Sir John Mowbray, 1st Baronet

Mowbray was the son of Robert Stirling Cornish, and was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford. In 1847 he married Elizabeth Mowbray, the sole heir of George Isaac Mowbray of Bishopwearmouth. The same year he assumed by Royal license the surname of Mowbray in lieu of his patronymic to reflect the large fortune he married into. Together, they had three sons and two daughters:[1]

• Annie Maud Mowbray (d.29 Oct 1926). She married Rev. Charles Thomas Cruttwell, Canon Residentiary of Peterborough.
• Edith Marian Mowbray (d. 27 March 1933); Unmarried.
• Sir Robert Gray Cornish Mowbray, 2nd Baronet (21 May 1850-23 Jul 1916)
• Sir Reginald Ambrose Mowbray, 3rd Baronet (5 Apr 1852-30 Dec 1916)
• Rev. Sir Edmund George Lionel Mowbray, 4th Baronet (26 Jun 1859-2 Feb 1919)

"Committee of Selection"
Mowbray as caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) in Vanity Fair, April 1882

In 1853 Mowbray was elected to the House of Commons for Durham, a seat he held until 1868, and then represented Oxford University from 1868 until his death in 1899. In the House, he was chair of the Committee of Selection and of the Standing Orders Committee.[2] He served as Judge Advocate General under the Earl of Derby from 1858 to 1859 and under Derby and later Benjamin Disraeli from 1866 to 1868. He was admitted to the Privy Council in 1858 and in 1880 he was created a baronet. From 1898 until his death the following year Mowbray was Father of the House of Commons.[1]

A bronze bust was erected as a memorial in the House of Commons in 1900.[2]

• A. F. Pollard; rev. H. C. G. Matthew (2004). "Mowbray , Sir John Robert, first baronet (1815–1899)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19456.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Pollard, Albert Frederick (1901). "Mowbray, John Robert" . Dictionary of National Biography (1st supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co.

• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Sir John Mowbray
• Leigh Rayment's list of baronets
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs