Denzil Onslow

Denzil Onslow of Pyrford (c.1642 – 27 June 1721) was a British Whig politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1679 and 1721. Through advantageous marriages, he obtained a country estate and became prominent in Surrey politics of the Hanoverian era, although his great nephew Arthur Onslow, as Speaker, judged that Denzil knew "no more of the business [of the House of Commons] than one who had been of the standing of a session". Early career and marriage As the sixth son of the Parliamentarian Sir Richard Onslow, he inherited little from his father. He was named after Denzil Holles, who stood as his godfather. Apprenticed in December 1661 to William Peake, of London, he soon turned elsewhere to seek his fortune. His elder brother Arthur had married Mary, the daughter of Sir Thomas Foote, 1st Baronet, a wealthy London grocer. Denzil married Mary's sister Sarah Lewis, the widow of Sir John Lewis, 1st Baronet. The money she brought to the match allowed him to buy the manor of Pyrford from Robert Parkhurst (the fourth of a line of the same name) which comprised approximately in 1677, a mixed quality agricultural estate, with patches of sandy soil and manor house in Surrey; and also the manor of Wisley. Rise in Surrey Onslow worked assiduously to improve his estate, and his situation improved again when Foote died in 1688; his estate was divided between Mary and Sarah, and Denzil's income rose to £2,000 a year. As his fortunes and social status rose, Onslow began to cultivate political ambitions. He found his opportunity in the Exclusion crisis in 1679 which was an attempt before the successful attempt to dethrone James II of England. Standing as a pro-Exclusion Whig, he was returned as Member of Parliament for the borough of Haslemere. (His brother Arthur was simultaneously returned as MP for the whole county which stretched into today's London, while Arthur's son Richard was returned for the borough of Guildford.) However, a double return was made for the borough, and Denzil was not declared the member until 11 November 1680, triumphing over his rival James Gresham. Onslow lost his seat in 1681. Around 1686, he was appointed outranger of Windsor Forest, widening the Onslow family's powers over the west of Surrey and which paid Onslow £600 per year. In 1689, in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution, he recovered his seat at Haslemere.