Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...

Richard Onslow ( – 16 March 1760) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer and politician. After the death of their parents, his older brother

Arthur Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Ital ...

bought him a captain's commission in the British Army. He first saw action in the Anglo-Spanish War in 1727, after which he was returned to Parliament for the family borough of

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

. His political contributions were negligible in comparison to his brother, and he continued to serve as a career officer, holding commands in the

War of the Austrian Succession The War of the Austrian Succession was a European conflict fought between 1740 and 1748, primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italian Peninsula, Italy, the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Related conflicts include King Ge ...

at Dettingen and Fontenoy. In 1759, he was appointed

Governor of Plymouth The Governor of Plymouth was the military Captain or Governor of the Royal Citadel, Plymouth, Fortress of Plymouth. The Governorship was abolished in 1842. The Lieutenant Governorship was vested in the General Officer Commanding Western Distric ...

and commander of the Western District, and died as a lieutenant-general the following year while presiding over two prominent courts-martial.

Early life

He was the second son of Foot Onslow, Member of Parliament for

. His older brother was

Arthur Onslow Arthur Onslow (1 October 169117 February 1768) was an English politician. He set a record for length of service when repeatedly elected to serve as Speaker of the House of Commons, where he was known for his integrity. Early life and educat ...

, Speaker of the House of Commons from 1728 to 1761, and after the death of his father in 1710 and his mother in 1715, he and his four sisters were left in Arthur's care. As Richard had not been educated for the law or the church, Arthur thought, against the opinion of their friends, that Richard's courage and bodily stature suited him for the army. Accordingly, Arthur raised the money to allow Richard to purchase a commission as a captain in the

11th Regiment of Foot In music theory, an eleventh is a compound interval consisting of an octave plus a fourth. A perfect eleventh spans 17 and the augmented eleventh 18 semitones, or 10 steps in a diatonic scale. Since there are only seven degrees in a diaton ...

on 14 July 1716, a rank that allowed him to maintain his social standing among the rest of the family. Writing late in life, Arthur noted that Richard had "risen to be very high in the army...and with unblemished character in it", validating his choice. When Arthur entered Parliament for the family borough of Guildford in 1720, he gave up to Richard the post of receiver general of the Post Office, which was not compatible with a Parliamentary seat and paid almost £400 per year. Richard exchanged into the 30th Regiment of Foot in 1719 and the

15th Regiment of Foot In music, a fifteenth or double octave, abbreviated ''15ma'', is the interval between one musical note and another with one-quarter the wavelength or quadruple the frequency. It has also been referred to as the bisdiapason. The fourth harmonic, ...

in 1721. During the 1722 election at

Haslemere The town of Haslemere () and the villages of Shottermill and Grayswood are in south-west Surrey, England, around south-west of London. Together with the settlements of Hindhead and Beacon Hill (Hindhead, Surrey), Beacon Hill, they comprise ...

, where the Onslows had an interest, Richard became involved in a brawl with

James Oglethorpe Lieutenant-General James Edward Oglethorpe (22 December 1696 – 30 June 1785) was a British Army officer, Tory politician and colonial administrator best known for founding the Province of Georgia in British North America. As a social refo ...

. Oglethorpe and his fellow Tory candidate Peter Burrell came upon Onslow and his companion, a Mr. Sharp. Burrell complained of Sharp's insulting electioneering practices, and Oglethorpe struck Sharp with his cane; when Onslow attempted to interpose, Oglethorpe drew on him. Onslow was injured in the thigh, but disarmed Oglethorpe; he was wounded again in the left hand when Oglethorpe attempted to recover his sword, but by now his temper had cooled, and he helped bind Onslow's wounds and summoned a surgeon for him. Onslow was promoted to

captain lieutenant Captain lieutenant or captain-lieutenant is a military rank, used in a number of navies worldwide and formerly in the British Army. Northern Europe Denmark, Norway and Finland The same rank is used in the navies of Denmark (), Norway () and Fin ...

(and lieutenant-colonel in the Army) in the

1st Regiment of Foot Guards The Grenadier Guards (GREN GDS) is the most senior infantry regiment of the British Army, being at the top of the Infantry Order of Precedence. It can trace its lineage back to 1656 when Lord Wentworth's Regiment was raised in Bruges to protect ...

on 7 July 1724. On 9 December 1726, he married his brother's sister-in-law, Rose Bridges, daughter and coheiress of John Bridges of

Thames Ditton Thames Ditton is a suburban village on the River Thames, in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey, England. Apart from a large inhabited island in the river, it lies on the southern bank, centred south-west of Charing Cross in central London. Thame ...

. She died in 1728 without children, and in 1730, he married again to Pooley Walton, daughter of Charles Walton and heiress of her uncle

George Walton George Walton ( – February 2, 1804) was a Founding Father of the United States who signed the United States Declaration of Independence while representing Georgia in the Continental Congress. Walton also served briefly as the second chief ex ...

. They had four children: *

George Onslow George Onslow may refer to: *George Onslow (British Army officer) (1731–1792), British politician and army officer *George Onslow, 1st Earl of Onslow (1731–1814), British peer and politician *George Onslow (composer) (1784–1853), French compo ...

(1731–1792) *

Sir Richard Onslow, 1st Baronet Admiral Sir Richard Onslow, 1st Baronet (23 June 1741 – 27 December 1817) was a Royal Navy officer who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Naval career He was the younger son of Lt-Gen. Richard Onslow and his wife Pooley, ...

(1741–1817) * Rev. Arthur Onslow (1746–1815) *Elizabeth Onslow (d. 1800 or 1802), married Rev. Hon. George Hamilton and had issue.

Active service and politics

On 9 March 1727, Onslow succeeded Richard Hele Treby as captain of one of the Guards companies sent to reinforce besieged Gibraltar. The Spanish lifted the siege in June, and Onslow then stood for Guildford on his family's interest, replacing Thomas Brodrick. Onslow was elected alongside his brother (who, however, chose to sit for

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

) in August 1727. His receiver-generalship went to his second cousin Denzil Onslow of Stoughton. Richard continued to represent the borough until his death. A steady supporter of Government, he made no particular figure in Parliamentary affairs. Onslow was commissioned colonel of the 39th Regiment of Foot in 1731. In 1734, he became accountant to his brother after the latter was appointed

Treasurer of the Navy The Treasurer of the Navy, originally called Treasurer of Marine Causes or Paymaster of the Navy, was a civilian officer of the Royal Navy, one of the principal commissioners of the Navy Board responsible for naval finance from 1524 to 1832. T ...

, holding the post until Arthur resigned the office in 1742. Richard transferred to become Colonel of the

8th (The King's) Regiment of Foot The 8th (King's) Regiment of Foot, also referred to in short as the 8th Foot and the King's, was an infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1685 and retitled the King's (Liverpool Regiment) on 1 July 1881. As infantry of the line, the ...

in 1739 (until 1745). He appointed Rev. Arthur Young, chaplain to his regiment. Young's son claimed that Onslow himself was not particularly religious, in part to escape the censure of his commander, the

Duke of Cumberland Duke of Cumberland is a peerage title that was conferred upon junior members of the British royal family, named after the historic county of Cumberland. History The Earldom of Cumberland, created in 1525, became extinct in 1643. The dukedom w ...

. On 20 February 1741, he was promoted to brigadier general, and sent to Germany with the British contingent in the

. He fought at the

Battle of Dettingen The Battle of Dettingen took place on 27 June 1743 during the War of the Austrian Succession, near Karlstein am Main in Bavaria. An alliance composed of British, Hanoverian and Austrian troops, known as the Pragmatic Army, defeated a French ...

on 27 June 1743, and was afterwards promoted to major general on 13 July. On 30 April 1745, Onslow succeeded

Viscount Cobham Viscount Cobham is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain that was created in 1718. Owing to its special remainder, the title has passed through several families. Since 1889, it has been held by members of the Lyttelton family. The barony ...

as colonel and captain of the 1st Troop of Horse Grenadier Guards, while

Edward Wolfe Lieutenant General Edward Wolfe (1685 – 26 March 1759) was a British army officer who saw action in the War of the Spanish Succession, 1715 Jacobite rebellion and the War of Jenkins' Ear. He is best known as the father of James Wolfe, famous f ...

took over the King's Regiment. He and

Henry Hawley Henry Hawley (12 January 1685 – 24 March 1759) was a British army officer who served in the wars of the first half of the 18th century. He fought in a number of significant battles, including the Capture of Vigo in 1719, Dettingen, Fo ...

commanded the second line of cavalry at the

Battle of Fontenoy The Battle of Fontenoy took place on 11 May 1745 during the War of the Austrian Succession, near Tournai, then in the Austrian Netherlands, now Belgium. A French army of 50,000 under Maurice, comte de Saxe, Marshal Saxe defeated a Pragmatic Ar ...

. He was one of the generals present in London in November after the British Army in Flanders was recalled to suppress the

Jacobite rising of 1745 The Jacobite rising of 1745 was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the Monarchy of Great Britain, British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart. It took place during the War of the Austrian Succession, when the bulk of t ...

. Onslow's last promotion, to

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

, occurred on 10 October 1747. On 15 February 1752, he was appointed

Governor of Fort William The Governor of Fort William was a British Army officer who commanded the garrison at Fort William in Inverness-shire. The office became a sinecure and was abolished in 1833. Governors of Fort William * 1691: Colonel Hill * 1725: Charles Sibou ...

, and in 1759, was removed to become

and military commander of the Western District. In early 1760, he was called upon to preside over the court-martial of

Lord George Sackville Major general George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville, PC (26 January 1716 – 26 August 1785) was a British Army officer, politician, and peer who served as Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1775 to 1782. Serving in the North ministry ...

for his conduct at the

Battle of Minden The Battle of Minden was a major engagement during the Seven Years' War, fought on 1 August 1759. An Anglo-German army under the overall command of Prussian Field Marshal Ferdinand of Brunswick defeated a French army commanded by Marshal of F ...

, and concurrently of

Lord Charles Hay Lord Charles Hay ( 1700 – 1 May 1760) was a soldier of the British Army who saw service in the Anglo-Spanish War, the Wars of the Polish and Austrian Successions, and the Seven Years' War. He combined this with a political career, sitting f ...

for remarks made against

Lord Loudoun General John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun (5 May 1705 – 27 April 1782) was a British Army officer who served as Commander-in-Chief, North America from 1756 to 1757. Early life and career Born in Scotland two years before the creation of Gre ...

, but died of a stroke on 16 March 1760 while presiding over the latter trial. In addition to his military career, he was a member of the original general court of the Society for Free British Fishery, founded in 1750.

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

Portrait at Clandon Park
{{DEFAULTSORT:Onslow, Richard 1690s births Year of birth uncertain 1760 deaths 30th Regiment of Foot officers British Army lieutenant generals British Life Guards officers Devonshire Regiment officers Dorset Regiment officers East Yorkshire Regiment officers Grenadier Guards officers King's Regiment (Liverpool) officers Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1727–1734 British MPs 1734–1741 British MPs 1741–1747 British MPs 1747–1754 British MPs 1754–1761 British Army personnel of the War of the Austrian Succession People educated at Royal Grammar School, Guildford

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

British military personnel of the Anglo-Spanish War (1727–1729)