Richard Onslow (politician, 1601)

Sir Richard Onslow (baptized July 30, 1601 , † May 19, 1664 in London ) was an English politician and military man.

Origin and youth

Onslow was the second son of Sir Edward Onslow († 1615) from Knoll in Cranleigh in Surrey , and of Isabel (or Elizabeth) Shirley († 1630), a daughter of Sir Thomas Shirley from Wiston in Sussex . His exact date of birth is unknown; he was baptized on July 30, 1601. His father, Sir Edward Onslow, was a Puritan and had no public office; his grandfather Richard Onslow , originally from Shropshire , had been Speaker of the House of Commons in 1566 . His father died in 1615, and after the death of his older brother Sir Thomas Onslow, who died of smallpox in December 1616 , Richard became the heir to the family estates. In 1617 he was enrolled at Jesus College , Cambridge and on November 8, 1618, he was admitted to Lincoln's Inn .

Start of political career

He was knighted on June 2, 1624 . In July 1626 he became Colonel of the Cavalry of the Surrey Militia , in December 1626 Justice of the Peace for Surrey and in March 1627 Deputy Lieutenant for Surrey. In 1628 he was as MP for Surrey in the Parliament elected, presumably, with the support of his friend Sir George More. At first he hardly appeared in parliament, and after 1629 King Charles I ruled for eleven years without convening parliament again. From 1640 he was again a member of the Short and Long Parliament for Surrey. In 1642 he was a member of a committee that was to determine the boundary between the royal Windsor Forest and Surrey in Guildford . The commission acted contrary to an order from the House of Lords , and in the tense situation prior to the beginning of the English Civil War found that apart from Guildford Park, no part of Surrey was within the boundaries of Windsor Forest, and therefore not of Forest law and the particular royal ones Was subject to rights.

Supporters of Parliament during the Civil War

As a devout Presbyterian , he was on the side of parliament in the beginning of the civil war, which is why he had to resign as justice of the peace on July 19, 1642. Still, he took part in the Kingston jury in August to arrest Judge Mallet by order of Parliament. In September and October 1642 he set up forces for Parliament in Surrey. When the royal troops invaded Surrey in November, his property was looted. Onslow became the leading MP for Surrey after Anthony Fane's death in 1643. He advocated a moderate and conciliatory policy, which is why the royalist E. Andrews later praised him for preventing or stopping looting and robbery in Surrey. On the other hand, the poet George Wither accused Onslow of being a patron of malefactors and a relentless opponent of actual supporters of Parliament. Although Onslow was a committed Presbyterian, he protected pastors of other denominations from displacement. The mathematician William Oughtred , who was also the Anglican rector of Albury , therefore dedicated his work The Key of the Mathematicks , published in 1647, to New Forged and Filed Onslow and his son Arthur. Onslow protected the property of the Howard family in Surrey as agent of Henry Howard, 22nd Earl of Arundel .

In mid-1643 Onslow's position in Surrey was challenged by rival parliamentarians under Sir John Maynard, who asked Surrey to provide more support for the warfare. Maynard and his allies won in July 1644 temporarily take control of the County Committee , as Onslow as commander of the regiment from Surrey during the siege of Basing House in Hampshire served. However, your attempt to replace Onslow as the commander of the militias of Eastern and Central Surrey by George Wither failed. In late August Maynard was forced to resign from the county committee , and in March 1645 his relative Colonel Samuel Jones was forced to resign from command of Farnham Castle . By order of Parliament of July 1, 1645, a new committee was formed, which was ruled by Onslow and his supporters. Onslow owed this success to the support of Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland , who was Lord Lieutenant of Surrey, and the moderate Middle Group in Parliament. In April 1646, George Wither attacked in his pamphlet Justitiarius justificatus Onslow, accusing him of trying to betray the cause of Parliament. For this slander he was sentenced on August 7th by the House of Commons to a fine of £ 500 and imprisonment.

On June 11, 1647 and July 30, he became a member of the Committee of Safety , but it is questionable whether he played a significant role in the committee that was supposed to direct Parliament's warfare. On June 1, 1648 he became a member of the Derby House committee , and a little later a member of a committee that should conclude a personal contract with the king.

MP for the Commonwealth of England

However, Cromwell distrusted Onslow, whom he referred to as a Surrey Fox , and was briefly arrested at Pride's Purge . However, he remained in the rump parliament for Surrey, member of the county committee and militia commander. When Scottish troops invaded the west of England in 1651, Onslow became the commander of the troops that were set up for defense in July 1651. During the first and second parliaments of the Commonwealth of England , he remained an MP for Surrey in 1654 and 1656, respectively. In April 1657 he was one of the group of leading parliamentarians who should convince the Lord Protector Cromwell to accept the royal crown. Cromwell refused, but made him a member of the Other House in December 1657 , as the House of Lords was called during the Commonwealth . After the fall of Richard Cromwell in 1659, Onslow initially withdrew from politics.

After the Stuart restoration

When the remaining members of the Long Parliament met again in February 1660 during the Stuart Restoration , Onslow was appointed a member of the new Council of State. Both he and his son Arthur ran for Surrey in April for the so-called Convention Parliament , but lost the election. The reasons for this were his hostility to the local Presbyterians, on the other hand he refused an offered mandate and speculated on winning both mandates for himself and his son by election. This failed, however, but he managed to get himself and his son elected as MPs for the city of Guildford. Onslow was ruled out as Surrey Justice of the Peace in July 1660, and his opponents tried to keep him from falling under the Indemnity Act, which granted MPs impunity for their activities during the Civil War and the Commonwealth. Onslow's opponents accused him of his involvement in the arrest of Judge Mallet in 1642, of his military actions during the Civil War and of 1651, of being a member of the Rump Parliament, and of having King Charles I with a hedgehog entangled in his own spines , would have compared. Onslow tried to prove his loyalty to the king through an accusatory speech against regicide John Hutchinson and was pardoned November 5, 1660. He was a member of the committee that prepared the Bill of Attainder against the regicide, the committee should restore the Dukedom Norfolk. Its title holder Thomas Howard was considered crazy, and Onslow, as one of his guardians, confiscated his London townhouse, Arundel House.

In May 1661 Onslow was elected as MP for Guildford in the so-called Cavalier Parliament, in the same year he was again justice of the peace. He supported the politics of Philip Wharton, 4th Baron Wharton and took an active part in parliamentary work until his death, whereby he also stood up for his own and family interests in Surrey and Guildford. He died at Arundel House on the beach , allegedly of gangrene , but it is more likely that he died as a result of being struck by lightning.

Clandon Park House was bought by Onslow in 1641 and the house was rebuilt around 1720.

Family and offspring

In 1620 Onslow had married Elizabeth Strangways († 1679), the daughter and heiress of Arthur Strangways, a wealthy innkeeper on a main road leading to London. He had six daughters and eight sons with her, including:

• Arthur Onslow (1624-1688)
• Elizabeth Onslow
• Richard Onslow
• Denzill Onslow

In 1641 he had acquired Clandon Park in West Clandon, Surrey, which became his primary residence. His heir became his eldest son Arthur . He was buried in Cranleigh Church.

Web links

• John Gurney: Onslow, Sir Richard (bap. 1601, d. 1664). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004
• Alan Davidson / Ben Coates: ONSLOW, Sir Richard (1601-1664), of Knowle, Cranleigh, Surr. in History of Parliament (period 1604–1629) (online)
• MW Helms / JS Crossette: ONSLOW, Sir Richard (1601-64), of West Clandon, Surr. and Arundell House, The Strand, Westminster. in History of Parliament (period 1660–1690) (online)