William Onslow, 4th Earl of Onslow
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The Right Honourable The Earl of Onslow GCMG PC DL |
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The Earl of Onslow as a freemason
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| 11th Governor of New Zealand | |
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In office 2 May 1889 – February 1892 |
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| Monarch | Victoria |
| Preceded by | Sir William Jervois |
| Succeeded by | The Earl of Glasgow |
| President of the Board of Agriculture | |
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In office 19 May 1903 – 12 March 1905 |
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| Monarch | Edward VII |
| Prime Minister | Arthur Balfour |
| Preceded by | Robert William Hanbury |
| Succeeded by | Hon. Ailwyn Fellowes |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
7 March 1853 Old Alresford, Hampshire |
| Died |
23 October 1911 (aged 58) Hendon, Middlesex |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | Hon. Florence Gardner (d. 1934) |
| Alma mater | Exeter College, Oxford |
William Hillier Onslow, 4th Earl of Onslow GCMG PC DL (7 March 1853 – 23 October 1911) was a British Conservative politician. He held several governmental positions between 1880 and 1905 and was also Governor of New Zealand between 1889 and 1892.
Born at Old Alresford, Hampshire, Onslow was the only son of George Augustus Cranley Onslow, son of the Hon. Thomas Cranley Onslow, second son of Thomas Onslow, 2nd Earl of Onslow. His mother was Mary Harriet Anne Loftus. In 1870, at the age of 17, he succeeded his great-uncle in the earldom of Onslow. He was educated at Eton and Exeter College, Oxford.
Onslow briefly served as a Lord-in-Waiting (government whip in the House of Lords) under the Earl of Beaconsfield between February and April 1880 and held the same position under Lord Salisbury between 1886 and 1887, and later served under Salisbury as Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies between 1887 and 1888 (in which post he was vice president of the first Colonial Conference in April 1887) and as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade between 1888 and 1889.
In November 1888 Onslow was appointed Governor of New Zealand,. As a result of the economic downturn in the late 1880s, he had sought a salaried position as a colonial governor. At 35, he was the youngest governor of New Zealand since George Grey was appointed in 1845 and the first since Robert FitzRoy in 1843 to have no previous experience in a vice-regal position. The New Zealand government had recently cut allowances for the governor, and Onslow was able to obtain the position mainly as it was no longer attractive to more senior colonial administrators.
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