Richard Onslow, 1st Baron Onslow, Speaker of the House of Commons

Richard Onslow, 1st Baron Onslow PC (23 June 1654 – 5 December 1717) was a British Whig Member of Parliament, known as Sir Richard Onslow, 2nd Baronet from 1688 until 1716. He served as the Speaker of the House of Commons from 1708 until 1710 and as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1714 until 1715. Onslow was a very unpopular figure amongst members of both political parties, particularly during his time as Speaker. He was extremely pedantic and showed an absolute devotion to principle, as a result he was given the nickname "Stiff Dick".[1] Onslow's father, Arthur, was a politician, as was his maternal grandfather Thomas Foote, who had served as the Lord Mayor of London in 1649. He was born in Surrey and attended St Edmund Hall, Oxford before being called to the Inner Temple, however he entered Parliament as the Member for Guildford in 1679 before he could be called to the bar. One of Onslow's first actions as a member of Parliament was to support the Exclusion Bill, which aimed, unsuccessfully, to deny the Catholic James II of England the British throne. Onslow was an active back-bencher during his early years in Parliament, and his increasing notoriety as a moderate Whig led to him being nominated for the position of Speaker in 1701. He was unsuccessful in this bid, losing out to the Tory candidate, Robert Harley. However, Onslow managed to attain the position of Speaker seven years later, in 1708. He proved to be a poor Speaker as he made no effort whatsoever to show any kind of neutrality, a fact which upset all but the most fervent Whigs. Onslow's pedantry as Speaker also enhanced his unpopularity. The most famous incident during his Speakership came during the trial of the preacher Dr. Henry Sacheverell, in which Onslow played a large part. When Onslow took the Commons to the House of Lords to hear their judgment on the case he challenged Black Rod on a trifling point of privilege, delaying the proceedings somewhat, which infuriated almost everyone in attendance. Onslow's unpopularity by this point was such that he failed to retain his seat in the 1710 election. In order to remain in the Commons he was forced to sit for a rotten borough. Onslow regained much of his political favour four years later. Upon the death of Queen Anne in 1714 Onslow was a vocal advocate of a Protestant successor, in return for his support Onslow was rewarded by being named as Chancellor of the Exchequer, a position he held for around a year before resigning.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Onslow,_1st_Baron_Onslow

DatesGUILDFORD1679 - 1681GUILDFORD1685 - 1687SURREY1689 - 1710ST. MAWES1710 - 1713SURREY1713 - Nov. 1715Family and Education b. 23 June 1654, 1st s. of Sir Arthur Onslow, 2nd Bt., M.P., by Mary, da. and coh. of Sir Thomas Foote, 1st Bt., ld. mayor of London 1649-50. educ. St. Edmund Hall, Oxf. 1671; I. Temple 1674. m. 31 Aug. 1676, Elizabeth, da. and h. of Sir Henry Tulse, ld. mayor of London 1683-4, 2s. 2da. suc. fa. 21 July 1688; cr. Baron Onslow 19 June 1716.

Offices Held

Lt.-col. of Marines 1690; ld. of the Admiralty 1690-3; high steward, Guildford 1701-d.; Speaker of the House of Commons 1708-10; gov. Levant Co. 1709-d.; P.C. 15 June 1710 and 1714; chancellor of the Exchequer 1714-15; teller of the Exchequer 1715-d.; ld. lt., Surr. 1716-d.

Biography Sir Richard Onslow, known as ‘Stiff Dick’, was the grandson of Sir Richard Onslow (1601-64), who, in the words of his descendant, Speaker Onslow,

laid the foundations of that interest both in the county and in the town of Guildford that our family have ever since kept up to a height that has been scarcely equalled in any county by one family, having been chosen for the county to all Parliaments, except five, from 1627; and for Guildford to every Parliament since 1660, except for two years upon a vacancy for a friend by our family interest, and sometimes for Haslemere, Gatton and Bletchingley, in the same county, once two of our family together for the county, and several times two of them for Guildford.1 The second of the three Speakers produced by the family, he played a prominent part under Anne, particularly in connexion with the Act of Succession, which he conducted through the Commons. Appointed chancellor of the Exchequer at George I’s accession, but soon displaced by Walpole, he wrote to the King representing that after his ‘unwearied and successful endeavours’ to promote ‘those laws which have so happily settled the Crown of Great Britain on your Majesty’, it was hard ‘to be with contempt dismissed your service, without the least cause of misdemeanour assigned’.2 He was compensated with a tellership of the Exchequer for life and a peerage, but having been a member of the House of Commons committee whose report had led to the impeachment of the heads of the late Tory Government, he was reluctant to take out his patent until the impeachments were out of the way, so that ‘they who had been accusers might not sit as judges in the same cause’. After some months, owing to the delay in trying Lord Oxford, he compromised by taking out his patent and abstaining from voting on anything relating to the impeachments.3 He died 5 Dec. 1717.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754 Author: Romney R. Sedgwick Notes 1. HMC 14th Rep. IX, 476, 491. 2. 29 Oct. 1715, Cholmondeley (Houghton) mss. 3. HMC 14th Rep. IX, 493.

• 1st Baron Onslow of Onslow (Shrewsbury) & of Clandon, Surrey