Richard Onslow (1528 – 2 April 1571) was a 16th-century English lawyer and politician who served asSolicitor General from 1566 to 1569 and Speaker of theHouse of Commons of England. (He was the first of two Richard Onslows and three Onslows to be elected Speaker.) He was born inShrewsbury, a younger son of Roger Onslow and his first wife Margaret Poyner.[1]
Onslow entered theInner Temple in 1545, from which he was briefly expelled in 1556 with several other members for involvement in an affray but was readmitted after an apology and a spell in theFleet Prison and was a Bencher (giving power to call graduates to the bar) in 1559, and Governor from 1564 to 1566. He wasRecorder of London in 1563.[1] From 1557 to 1558 and 1562 to his death in 1571 he wasMember of Parliament forSteyning, a tiny borough inSussex.[2] In 1559 he was elected MP forAldborough, north Yorkshire.[3] His religious sympathies were with thePuritan party, and the Spanish ambassador described him as a"furious heretic".
In 1566 he was appointedSolicitor General, and was summoned to attend theHouse of Lords by a writ of assistance. However, later the same year the Speaker of the Commons died, and the Privy Council chose Onslow to succeed him. At this period the appointment was effectively a Crown nomination, though theoretically theHouse of Commons had a free choice; Onslow was the royal candidate but was opposed, the only occasion on which this happened during theElizabethan period. As is the convention, Onslow spoke in opposition to his own appointment, and argued that the independence of the Speakership was incompatible with the Solicitor General's oath to the Queen; this gave his critics good excuse to oppose, but he was nevertheless eventually approved by 82 votes to 70, and became Speaker on 2 October 1566. He was Speaker until its dissolution in January 1567.
Onslow may have been the author ofArguments Related to the Sea Landes and Salt Shores.
He married Catherine Harding, by whom he had two sons and five daughters, includingEdward, ancestor of theEarls of Onslow, and Cicely, who married SirHumphrey Winch.
Onslow died from'pestilential fever' atHarnage near Shrewsbury, after visiting a relative in the town, in April 1571 and was buried in the thenSt Chad's Church in Shrewsbury where a tomb monument was erected, that was restored in 1742 by his descendant,Arthur Onslow, himself a past Speaker. After the fall of the church in 1788, the monument was moved to theAbbey Church in Shrewsbury, where it remains.[1]
| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Solicitor General for England and Wales 1566–1569 | Succeeded by |
| Parliament of England | ||
| Preceded by | Speaker of the House of Commons 1566–1571 | Succeeded by |
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