Sir Alexander Campbell Onslow (17 July 1842 – 20 October 1908) was the third Chief Justice of the

Supreme Court of Western Australia The Supreme Court of Western Australia is the highest state court in the Australian State of Western Australia. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters (although it usually only hears matters involving sums of or more ...

, which is the highest ranking court in the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

State State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. Onslow is a forebear of the notable Australian

Macarthur MacArthur or Macarthur may refer to: Arts and media * INSS MacArthur, a fictional starship featured in the science fiction novel ''The Mote in God's Eye'' * ''MacArthur'' (1977 film), a movie biography of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur * ' ...

- Onslow families.

Biography

Onslow was the fourth son of Arthur Pooley Onslow, of Send Grove, Ripley, Surrey, by his wife, Rosa Roberta, daughter of

Alexander Macleay Alexander Macleay (also spelt McLeay) MLC FLS FRS (24 June 1767 – 18 July 1848) was a Scottish-Australian leading member of the Linnean Society, a fellow of the Royal Society and member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. Life Mac ...

, F.R.S., Speaker of the first

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. Along with the New South Wales Legislative As ...

. Onslow was educated at Westminster and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1864. He entered at the Inner Temple on 15 January 1862, was called to the bar on 17 November 1868, and went the Home Circuit. On 4 February 1878, he married Madeline Emma Loftus, daughter of Rev. Robert Loftus Tottenham, of Florence, and granddaughter of the Bishop of Clogher. Onslow was Attorney-General of

British Honduras British Honduras was a Crown colony on the east coast of Central America — specifically located on the southern edge of the Yucatan Peninsula from 1783 to 1964, then a self-governing colony — renamed Belize from June 1973

from 1878 to 1880, and

Attorney-General of Western Australia The Attorney-General of Western Australia is the member of the Government of Western Australia responsible for maintenance and improvement of Western Australia's system of law and justice. Before the advent of representative government in 1870 ...

from 1880 to 1883. In July of the latter year he was appointed Chief Justice, in which capacity he administered the government during the absence of Sir

Frederick Broome Sir Frederick Napier Broome (18 November 1842 – 26 November 1896) was a colonial administrator in the British Empire, serving in Natal, Mauritius, Western Australia, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. The Western Australian towns of Broo ...

in England in 1884–5. Onslow's relations with that Governor having subsequently become strained, the latter threatened Onslow's security of tenure by "interdicting" him from his functions as Chief Justice, for the alleged premature and improper publication of certain correspondence then pending between them and with the Colonial Office. The Executive Council unanimously confirmed the interdict, and placed Mr. Onslow on half-pay pending the decision of the Colonial Office. In the result,

Lord Knutsford Henry Thurstan Holland, 1st Viscount Knutsford, (3 August 1825 – 29 January 1914), known as Sir Henry Holland, Bt, from 1873 to 1888 and as The Lord Knutsford from 1888 to 1895, was a British Conservative politician, best known for serving a ...

reinstated Mr. Onslow, but censured him. Ultimately, in view of the attitude assumed by the Chief Justice in adjudicating on certain cases of newspaper libel, the Legislative Council passed a resolution requesting the Home Government, in the interests of tranquillity, to transfer him to some other location. He was accordingly given, a year's leave of absence but this was extended. In February 1890 it was announced that he was to exchange posts with Sir

Elliot Bovill Sir Elliot Charles Bovill (23 April 1848 – 24 March 1893) was a British lawyer and judge. He served as Chief Justice of Cyprus and the Straits Settlements in the late 19th century. Early life Bovill was born in Clapham, at that time in Surre ...

Chief Justice of Cyprus The chief justice of Cyprus was the head of the Supreme Court of Cyprus until 1961. The administration of Cyprus was taken over by the British government, following the Russo-Turkish War, under the Cyprus Convention, Convention of 4 June 1878. C ...

. This arrangement did not actually take place and Sir Henry T. Wrensfordsley was sent out to the colony in 1890 as Acting Chief Justice. Mr. Onslow returned to Western Australia and resumed his occupancy of the office of Chief Justice in July 1891. He was Administrator of Western Australia during the Governor's absence from March 1900. He retired in 1901 and returned to England, where he died on 20 October 1908. Onslow was knighted in 1895 for services rendered to the Queen's colonies since 1878.

Family

;Father * Arthur Pooley Onslow - father ;Mother * Rosa Roberta, née McLeay - mother * Alexander McLeay (1767–1848) - Rosa Roberta's father * Rosa Roberta's siblings ** William Sharp Macleay (1792–1865) He never married and the heir to his estate was his brother, George W. J. Macleay ** Sir George W. J. Macleay (1809–1891) ** James Robert (1811–1892) secretary of the commission for the suppression of the slave trade in Cape Colony. ** Margaret (b. 1802) married Archibald Clunes Innes (1800–1857) in 1829 ** Christiana Susan (b.1799) married Captain

William Dumaresq William John Dumaresq (25 February 1793 – 9 November 1868) was an English-born military officer, civil engineer, landholder and early Australian politician. He is associated with settler colonisation of the areas around Scone and Armidale ...

(1793–1868) in 1830 ** Barbara Isabella (b.1797) married Pieter Laurentz Campbell (1809–1948)Hazel King
'Campbell, Pieter Laurentz (1809–1848)'
Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, Melbourne University Press, 1966, pp 201-202. in 1834. ;Siblings *

Arthur Alexander Walton Onslow Arthur Alexander Walton Onslow (2 August 1833 – 30 January 1882) was born at Trichinopoly in India to surveyor Arthur Pooley Onslow and Rosa Roberta Macleay. In 1838 was sent to New South Wales, where he lived with his grandfather Alexander M ...

(1833–1882) - brother **

James Macarthur-Onslow Major General James William Macarthur-Onslow, (7 November 1867 – 17 November 1946) was a soldier, grazier and politician. The son of a prominent New South Wales family, he was commissioned in the New South Wales Mounted Rifles in 1892 and se ...

- nephew

Biography

Family

See also

References

Further reading