He was born into a
Jewish family at
Zülz,
Prussian Silesia. After attending
Rosenburg Academy and the colleges of
Lissa,
Nikolsburg, and
Presburg, he matriculated at the
University of Berlin, where he took the degree of
Ph.D. On a visit to
Hamburg he was given the task of arranging the Oriental coins in the Sprewitz collection. Coming to London, he obtained introductions to the
Duke of Sussex and Admiral
Sir Sidney Smith, through whom he became known to scholars and patrons of learning in England. He visited Oxford, Cambridge, and Paris. In 1836 he undertook, under the auspices of the Duke of Sussex and Sir Sidney Smith, a three years' tour in the
Middle East, to extend his knowledge of its languages. Near
Safed, he was robbed by
Druses, and continued his journey through
Palestine in
Bedouin dress. In 1839 the Duke of Sussex appointed Loewe his persona lecturer on the oriental tongues. In 1839 Loewe went to study in the
Vatican Library, and
Sir Moses Montefiore passed through Rome on his second journey to the Palestine. Loewe had been Montefiore's guest, at
Ramsgate in 1835, and he accepted an invitation to accompany Montefiore as his secretary. They struck up a long-lasting relationship. On the mission to
Damascus and
Constantinople in 1840, and on a dozen more journeys from 1839 to 1874, Loewe accompanied Montefiore. In 1840 he addressed a large mixed congregation in the synagogue at
Galata in four languages. On 25 March 1841 he was presented by Montefiore to
Queen Victoria. In 1846 Loewe delivered two lectures on the Samaritans at Sussex Hall, London and in the same year he
lectured at the
Great Synagogue of Vilna, on the occasion of Montefiore's mission to Russia. He was appointed first principal of
Jews College in 1856, but soon resigned the office. He became examiner for oriental languages to the
Royal College of Preceptors in 1858, and in the same year opened a Jewish boarding-school at Brighton. When in 1868 Montefiore founded the
Judith Theological College at Ramsgate, he chose Loewe as principal and director, and he was in that post for twenty years. Early in 1888 Loewe moved to London, and he died on 5 November 1888 at 53 Warwick Road,
Maida Hill. He was buried at
Willesden. He is said to have shunned public life. Loewe married in 1844, and his widow survived him, together with three sons and four daughters. ==Works==