Francis Ottley
| Francis Ottley | |
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Francis Ottley, from a family portrait of about 1636, now in Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery
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| Military governor of Shrewsbury | |
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Assumed office February 1643 |
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| Monarch | Charles I |
| High Sheriff of Shropshire (Royalist) | |
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In office 1644–1646 Serving with Thomas Mytton (Parliamentarian) |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
circa 1600 Pitchford Hall, Shropshire |
| Died | 11 September 1649 London |
| Spouse(s) | Lucy Edwards |
| Relations |
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| Profession | Politician, soldier |
| Signature |  |
Sir Francis Ottley (1600/1601–11 September 1649) was an English Royalist politician and soldier who played an important part in the English Civil War in Shropshire. He was military governor of Shrewsbury during the early years of the war and later served as the Royalist High Sheriff of the county and helped negotiate the surrender of Bridgnorth. His final years were spent in a prolonged and complex struggle to free his estates from sequestration.
Francis Ottley's parents were:
The Ottley family belonged to the middling landed gentry and claimed descent from the Ottleys of Ottley, near Ellesmere, Shropshire. However they made their fortune as part of the powerful merchant class of the town of Shrewsbury itself, the wealth of which derived from its monopoly in the finishing of Welsh cloth. As early as 1444 a Thomas Ottley was one of the aldermen assisting the bailiffs in the government of Shrewsbury. He bought Pitchford Hall in 1473, and also had a house in Calais, from which he could seek outlets for finished cloth. His son William was High Sheriff of Shropshire in 1500, marking the definitive acceptance of the Ottleys into the landed gentry, the dominant class in Shropshire, a county which had no resident in the 16th century.
Roger Gifford was a noted doctor, who was appointed Elizabeth I's physician ordinary in 1587. He became wealthy and served as MP for Old Sarum. He was reported to be a Catholic but this is uncertain.
Francis Ottley was educated at Shrewsbury School from the age of ten. He entered Lincoln College, Oxford, matriculating at the age of 17 on 4 December 1618, the same day as his younger brother, Richard. While Richard stayed on to graduate, Francis left without a degree for legal training, and the Inner Temple registered his admission in November 1619, incorrectly naming his father as Robert. In 1621 he married Lucy, the already widowed daughter of Thomas Edwards, who was High Sheriff of Shropshire at the time.
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