“L” is for Lowndes, Rawlins [1721-1800]. Jurist. Governor. Lowndes was born on St. Kitts in the West Indies and migrated with his family to South Carolina in 1730. He became the ward of the colony’s Provost Marshal and learned the law from him. From 1745 to 1754, Lowndes was Provost Marshal, the chief law enforcement officer in the colony. He also represented St. Bartholomew’s Parish in the Commons House off and on for twenty-five years. In 1763 he was elected Speaker. In 1766, he was appointed a judge. A reluctant revolutionary, he had hoped for an accommodation between the colonies and Britain. Nevertheless, he held important posts in the early years of the Revolutionary War, serving in the Provincial Congress and on the Council of Safety. In 1778, the General Assembly elected Rawlins Lowndes president [governor] of South Carolina.
Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.