# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Onslow, William Hillier

​ONSLOW, WILLIAM HILLIER, fourth Earl of Onslow (1853–1911), governor of New Zealand, born at Bletsoe, Bedfordshire, on 7 March 1853, was only son of George Augustus Cranley Onslow (d. 1855) of Alresford, Hampshire, who was great-grandson of George Onslow, first earl [q. v.], grandson of Thomas Onslow, second earl, and nephew of Arthur George Onslow, third earl. His mother was ​ Mary Harriet Ann, eldest daughter of Lieut.-general William Fraser Bentinck Loftus of Kilbride, co. Wicklow, Ireland. He succeeded his great-uncle as fourth earl in 1870. Educated at Eton, he entered Exeter College, Oxford, in Easter term 1871, and left after rather more than a year without sitting for the university examinations. A conservative in politics, he was a lord-in-waiting to Queen Victoria in Lord Beaconsfield's administration at the beginning of 1880, and he represented the local government board in the House of Lords ; he was again a lord-in-waiting under Lord Salisbury in 1880-7. In February 1887 he was appointed by Lord Salisbury parliamentary under-secretary of state for the colonies, representing the colonial office in the House of Lords. Sir Henry Holland was then secretary of state for the colonies, and when in February 1888 he was raised to the House of Lords as Lord Knutsford, Lord Onslow was transferred as parliamentary secretary to the board of trade. While he was at the colonial office, in April 1887, the first colonial conference took place, of which he was a vice-president. He was also a delegate to the sugar bounties conference in 1887-8, and in 1887 he was made K.C.M.G.
Onslow was not long at the board of trade, for on 24 Nov. 1888 he was appointed governor of New Zealand, and assumed office on 2 May 1889, being made G.C.M.G. soon after. He held the office till the end of February 1892. He was a successful and popular governor, businesslike and straightforward ; and the New Zealanders appreciated his frankness of character and his open-air tastes. He encouraged acclimatisation societies, and used his personal influence to establish island preserves for the native birds of New Zealand. There was one change of ministry during his term of office, the administration of Sir Harry Atkinson [q. v. Suppl. I] being at the beginning of 1891 succeeded by that of John Ballance [q. v. Suppl. I], and some appointments to the upper house which the governor made on the advice of the outgoing premier were the subject of criticism by the opposite party (see H. of C. Return, No. 198, May 1893). Otherwise his government was free from friction. In New Zealand his younger son was born (13 Nov. 1890), and he paid the Maoris the much appreciated compliment of giving to the child the Maori name of Huia, and presenting him for adoption into the Ngatihuia tribe in the North Island in September 1891.
In 1895, when the unionists were returned to power, he became parliamentary under-secretary of state for India, and remained at the India Office till 1900, when he went back to the colonial office in the same position, Mr. Joseph Chamberlain being secretary of state. He took part in the colonial conference of 1902, and he acted as secretary of state during Mr. Chamberlain's visit to South Africa. In 1903 he obtained cabinet rank as president of the board of agriculture, and was made a privy councillor. As head of an office he proved himself to be hard-working and shrewd. His appointment synchronised with the passing of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries Act, 1903, which transferred the control of the fishery industry from the board of trade to the board of agriculture. Onslow took a strong personal interest in the new duties which devolved on the board. For the care of agriculture he was well fitted by his own private inclinations and pursuits, and he paid much attention to the question of railway rates so far as they affected farmers.
In 1905 he succeeded Albert Edmund Parker, third earl of Morley [q. v. Suppl. II], as chairman of committees in the House of Lords, and held that post till the Easter recess of 1911, when he retired on account of failing health. Unlike his immediate predecessor in the chairmanship he did not dissociate himself from party politics, but his politics were too genial to give offence, and in his official room there was no political atmosphere. He was rapid yet patient in the transaction of business, took great care in the selection of members and chairmen for committees on bills, and fully maintained the reputation of the House of Lords committees for justice and integrity. Onslow was chairman of the small holdings committee appointed by the board of agriculture in 1905 ; he was also chairman of the executive committee of the Central Land Association, and in 1905-6 he was president of the Royal Statistical Society. Onslow was an alderman of the London county council (1896-9) and for a time leader of the moderate party in the council ; he was also an alderman of the city of Westminster (1900-3), and he had adequate sympathetic knowledge of municipal questions. At Clandon, Surrey, the family home, Onslow was a good landlord and neighbour. He held the office of high steward of Guildford. He was a keen sportsman and a good whip, being a member of the Coaching and the Four in Hand Clubs, and in all respects a good representative of the country gentle man. He died on 23 Oct. 1911 at his son's house at Hampstead, and was buried at Merrow near Guildford, a memorial service ​being held at St. Margaret's, Westminster. He married on 3 Feb. 1875 Florence Coulston Gardner, elder daughter of Alan Legge, third Lord Gardner, and had two sons and two daughters. His portrait, painted by the Hon. John Collier, is at 7 Richmond Terrace, and an engraving of it at Grillion's Club. A cartoon portrait by ’Spy' appeared in 'Vanity Fair' in 1883.
[The Times, 24 Oct. 1911; Gisborne's New Zealand Rulers, 1897 (portrait); Colonial Office List; Who's Who; Burke's Peerage; Walford's County Families; private sources.]
C. P. L.