 Lowry was born in New Brighton, Wirral, the fourth son of Evelyn Boden and Arthur Lowry, a cotton broker with roots in Cumberland.He was educated at The Leys School in Cambridge, the school made famous by the novel "Goodbye, Mr. Chips", and St Catharine's College, Cambridge.In 1912, the family moved to Caldy, on another part of the Wirral peninsula.