Robert Henley-Ongley, 1st Baron Ongley (c. 1721 – 23 October 1785), was a British politician. Born Robert Henley, the son of Robert Henley of London, he assumed the additional surname of Ongley as heir to the estate of his great-uncle, Sir Samuel Ongley, of

Old Warden Old Warden is a village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of the county of Bedfordshire, England, about south-east of the county town of Bedford. The 2011 census shows its population as 328. The Shuttleworth Collection ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

.''Debrett's Complete Peerage of the United Kingdom and Ireland. Twenty-Second edition'', page 671. London, 1838.
/ref> He was educated at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniq ...

and studied law at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's I ...

. He was returned to Parliament for

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst t ...

in 1754, a seat he held until 1761, and then sat as a

Knight of the Shire Knight of the shire ( la, milites comitatus) was the formal title for a member of parliament (MP) representing a county constituency in the British House of Commons, from its origins in the medieval Parliament of England until the Redistributio ...

for

between 1761 and 1780 and again between 1784 and 1785. In 1776 he was elevated to the

Irish peerage The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five di ...

as Baron Ongley, of

. (An Irish peerage did not oblige him to give up his seat in the House of Commons). Lord Ongley married Frances Gosfright, daughter and co-heir of Richard Gosfright, of Langton Hall,

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

, in 1763. They had two sons and four daughters. He died in October 1785 and was buried in a mausoleum in the churchyard of St Leonard's church in

, built at his request by his widow in 1787. He was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son, Robert.

References

1785 deaths Politicians from London Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Members of the Middle Temple Barons in the Peerage of Ireland Peers of Ireland created by George III Year of birth uncertain Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780 British MPs 1780–1784 British MPs 1784–1790 Tory members of the Parliament of Great Britain {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub