Miss Lowman was born on November 25, 1898 to a prosperous, educated family. Her father was a solictor and her mother was a school teacher. Ivy had three sisters and a brother. All of the girls became school teachers.
Ivy Lowman was competitive, bright, and driven. She studied and graduated from Homerton College in Cambridge and on August 20th, 1922 represented the United Kingdom in the first Women's Olympics in Paris and was a pioneer in women's sports. She wasn't a minor athlete, but medalist in a variety of track and field events, and in several world games spanning 3 years.
She competed mainly in high jump but also in short-distance running and hedge racing . In 1922 she performed best in the world in high jump on June 20 at competitions in London.
In 1922 she participated in the Monte Carlo games where she took gold medal in pentathlon , silver medal in running 250 m and bronze medal in high jump and gold medal in relay race 4 x 175 meters (with Nora Callebout , Lowman, Mary Lines and Hornovsky) and silver medal in relay race 4 x 75 meters (with Mary Lines, Lowman, Daisy Wright and Nora Callebout).
In 1923 and 1924 she was on the top 7 list of the world's high jumpers.
Lowman participated in the first regular women's Olympics on August 20, 1922 in Paris. During the games, she won a bronze medal in the high jump.
In 1923 , Lowman attended the third women's games in Monte Carlo. During these sports games, she won a gold medal in hurdles 65 meters and a high jump. In her last competition, in 1924 she attended the Damolympiade in 1924 on August 4, at Stamford Bridge in London where she took a bronze medal in high jump.
She spent the next 15 years as a missionary in India.
In 1939, she came back from India, her health shattered, and applied for position at Central School in Lowestoft. Why Lowestoft? No one knows, there doesn't seem to be any family connection with the town or history of visiting it, but maybe she knew someone.
She rented a genteel house at 1 Station Road in Lowestoft, where she could easily walk to Central School. The 1939 census lists her as "Schoolmistress" and she was 41, never married, and living with two domestic workers. One gets the feeling she is working because she wants to, not because she must.
And with this background, we go to the school....
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