Son of a Scottish nurseryman also called Hugh Low (1793-1863), he followed in the family business and at the age of 20 travelled to Southeast Asia collecting orchids for his father's company. Low soon abandoned his plant collecting career in favour of a colonial government posting (1848) as chief secretary to Sir James Brooke (1803-1868), first governor of the newly formed British colony of Labuan, a colony formed specifically to combat the Malay and Dayak pirate fleets that plagued commerce between Singapore and Hong. Low's adventurous nature persisted and he made a number of expeditions, becoming the first westerner to ascend Mount Kinabalu, Sarawak in 1851, where he collected again in 1858 including both plants and insects. His remarkable discoveries of Nepenthes were described by J.D. Hooker who named N. lowii Hook f. after its collector. Low later became Resident of Perak (1877-1899), replacing the first resident J.W.W. Birch (1826-1875) who had been assasinated, and is credited with planting the first rubber trees grown in Malaysia (1877) and founding the Perak State Museum (1883).