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THE EARLS OF ONSLOW, OF CLANDON PARK, WEST CLANDON: FAMILY RECORDS, 1630-1979
Reference Number: G173
Descriptive Information about the Record (click to expand) Provenance Deposited in several instalments between 1947 and 1972 by Arthur 6th Earl of Onslow, by his solicitors Messrs Smallpeice & Merriman and by his widow Jo, Countess of Onslow.
-Introduction The Onslow family, originally from Shropshire, became established in Surrey with the marriage of Richard Onslow, M.P., later Speaker of the House of Commons, to Catherine Harding of Cranleigh, heiress to the manors of Knowle, Bramley and Rowley, in 1559. Further acquisitions of land followed and another prudent marriage, that of Thomas 2nd Baron Onslow to a "Jamaica heiress", Elizabeth Knight in 1708 facilitated the purchase of Guildford Park, the manors of Somersbury, Baynards, Pollingfold, Burpham and Shalford Clifford and the building of Clandon Park, completed circa 1750. George, 4th Baron Onslow, who was created Earl of Onslow and Viscount Cranley in 1801, found it necessary to sell the manors of Bramley, Rowley, Esher and Thames Ditton, acquiring for his estates only the manor of Papercourt from Peter Lord King in exchange for the manor of Wisley in 1785. Thomas 2nd Earl of Onslow sold the remaining Onslow lands in Cranleigh and a nadir in the history of the estates was reached during the long lifetime of the 3rd Earl who abandoned Clandon Park and became a recluse after the death of hiswife and son. There was an improvement in the management of the still extensive estates after the succession to the title in 1870 of William Hillier Onslow, but during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, land near Guildford was gradually sold for building development. On part of the old Guildford Park, Onslow Village was begun in 1920 and in 1928 the 5th Earl gave 6 acres on Stage Hill as a site for Guildford Cathedral.
The Onslows were a political family and one which provided the House of Commons with three Speakers. Their close connexion with Guildford began after the Restoration in 1660, when Sir Richard Onslow was returned as a Member of Parliament for the town. For the next 220 years, except from 1830 to 1858, one, if not both, of the representatives of Guildford in the House of Commons was an Onslow. It also became a tradition, maintained to the present day, for the Earl of Onslow to be elected High Steward of Guildford and the proximity of the family seat, Clandon Park, encouraged an association with the borough from the early 18th century onwards. The careers of the 4th and 5th Earls exemplify the political interests characteristic of the family. William Hillier, 4th Earl of Onslow, was appointed Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1887 and Parliamentary Secretary at the Board of Trade in 1888. From 1888-91, he was Governor of New Zealand, returning to England to become Under-Secretary of State for India in 1895 and, once more, Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1900. After the conclusion of the Boer War, he was involved in plans for the re-settlement of South Africa. In 1903, he entered the Cabinet as President of the Board of Agriculture. From 1905 until shortly before his death in 1911, the 4th Earl served as Chairman of Committees in the House of Lords. He formed the Association of Opposition Peers and was elected first chairman of the Executive Committeee of the Central Land Association. The 4th Earl's interest included the government of London. He was elected to the Westminster Vestry in 1894 and became an alderman and later leader of the Moderate Party on the London County Council from 1896-8. In 1899, he promoted a Bill which led to the abolition of the London vestries and he became an alderman on Westminster City Council in 1900, having refused an invitation to be the first mayor.
Richard, 5th Earl of Onslow held various posts in the Diplomatic Service between 1901 and 1909, when he joined the Foreign Office as assistant private secretary to Sir Edward Grey. He had a distinguished record of service in the First World War and was demobilised with the rank of Colonel after being Assistant Director of Staff Duties in the B E F, France. He was appointed a Lord in Waiting to George V in 1919 and Civil Lord of the Admiralty in the following year. In 1921 he became Parliamentary Secretary at the Board of Agriculture and, later in the same year, accepted a similar post in the Ministry of Health. From 1923-4, he was Parliamentary Secretary at the Board of Education and he then served for four years as Under-Secretary for War. In 1928 he took the post of Paymaster General in order to be free to supervise the passing of the Local Government Act, having been Chairman of the Royal Commission on Local Government from 1923-8. In 1931, the 5th Earl followed in his father's footsteps by becoming Chairman of Committees in the House of Lords, a post he held until 1944, shortly before his death.
-The records The Onslow family papers, deposited in 1972 after the death of the 6th Earl, are to a considerable extent an artificial collection made by the 5th Earl in the course of preparing a family history. For example, he purchased some papers of Arthur Onslow, the Great Speaker, in 1908 [173/3/8 & 12]. From 1912 onwards, the 5th Earl gathered together letters, diaries and other personal papers of his ancestors, especially of his father, and had most single items and small groups bound in a series of 23 volumes of Private Papers, with an additional volume entitled Loftus Letters and Miscellanea. For the last chapters of the unpublished nine-volume History of the Onslow Family and for part of his autobiography Sixty-Three Years (1944), the 5th Earl seems to have used files of his own and of his wife's correspondence from 1911, when he succeeded his father, until 1924, the approximate date at which the Family History was completed. With the exception of 1936 Coronation Committee minutes, etc, little material has been deposited relating to the period from 1925 until the 5th Earl's death in 1945. Similarly, there are no letters of the 6th Earl other than a small bundle of correspondence about West Clandon Village Hall in 1968. The 5th Earl and his son arranged for press cuttings about the family to be collect and bound. There are seventeen volumes of cuttings which date from the mid-18th century to 1952.
The archive of the Earls of Onslow contain little material relating to cadet branches of the family. There are no papers of those Onslows who were Members of Parliament for Guildford from 1660-1830 and 1858-80. Although there are a few miscellaneous papers of Arthur Onslow, the Great Speaker, in the 5th Earl's collection, five manuscript volumes, including the Speaker's Anecdotes and his Calendar of the Journals of the House of Commons, 1660-1710, have been deposited in the House of Lords Record Office.
-Access Conditions There are no access restrictions.
-- Series information for this collection
For a full list of these records see the Access to Archives website a... Title For a full list of these records see the Access to Archives website at <http://www.a2a.org.uk> Reference G173 Unit Date 1630-1979 Start Date 16300101 End Date 19791231
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