Arthur Alexander Walton Onslow (2 August 1833 – 30 January 1882) was born at

Trichinopoly Tiruchirappalli () ( formerly Trichinopoly in English), also called Tiruchi or Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with bein ...

in India to surveyor Arthur Pooley Onslow and Rosa Roberta Macleay. In 1838 was sent to

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, where he lived with his grandfather

Alexander Macleay Alexander Macleay (also spelt McLeay) MLC FLS FRS (24 June 1767 – 18 July 1848) was a leading member of the Linnean Society, a fellow of the Royal Society and member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. Life Macleay was born on Ro ...

Elizabeth Bay House Elizabeth Bay House is a heritage-listed Colonial Regency style house and now a museum and grotto, located at 7 Onslow Avenue in the inner eastern Sydney suburb of Elizabeth Bay in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, ...

in Sydney. He returned to England to live with his family in 1841 and was educated in Surrey and Nottingham. He entered the navy in May 1847 as a midshipman on HMS Howe and by 1847 he was a navy midshipman. From 1850 until 1854 he served in various vessels on the West Coast of Africa and in 1851 he was present at the British attacks on Lagos, in the Bight of Biafra, then a stronghold of the slave trade carried on by the Portuguese. He served during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

and was in the Baltic Squadron at the Battle of Suomenlinna. He was one of the crew sent to Australia in 1857 to recommission the surveying ship HMS Herald under Captain

Henry Mangles Denham Vice Admiral Sir Henry Mangles Denham (28 August 1800 – 3 July 1887) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station. Early career Denham entered the navy in 1809. He served on from 1810 to 1814, initially u ...

From 1857 to 1861, when the Herald returned to England, he worked on surveying voyages to

King George Sound King George Sound ( nys , Menang Koort) is a sound on the south coast of Western Australia. Named King George the Third's Sound in 1791, it was referred to as King George's Sound from 1805. The name "King George Sound" gradually came into use ...

Shark Bay Shark Bay (Malgana: ''Gathaagudu'', "two waters") is a World Heritage Site in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/shark-bay area is located approximately north of Perth, on the ...

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

and the

Torres Strait The Torres Strait (), also known as Zenadh Kes, is a strait between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, the northernmost extremity of the Australian mai ...

. During this period Onslow was an active amateur photographer and produced photographs on his voyages and also during his stopovers in Sydney. Beacon erected on Mellish Cay by H

After returning to England he studied steam navigation at the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth, before he joined the frigate HMS Phaeton, and was at Vera Cruz during the French operations at Mexico. In 1863 he was promoted to the rank of commander, and was appointed to

HMS Meeanee (1848) HMS ''Meeanee'' was a two-deck 80-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 11 November 1842 at Bombay Dockyard. She was named after the Battle of Meeanee The Battle of Miani (or Battle of Meeanee, ) was a battle be ...

, 81 guns, then stationed in the Mediterranean. Soon after his health failed and he was compelled to seek leave of absence. Having obtained two years' sick leave he came to New South Wales, where he resided up to the time of his death. On 31 January 1867 he married Elizabeth Macarthur, with whom he had eight children, including

James Macarthur-Onslow Major General James William Macarthur-Onslow, (7 November 1867 – 17 November 1946) was a soldier, grazier and politician. The son of a prominent New South Wales family, he was commissioned in the New South Wales Mounted Rifles in 1892 and se ...

. In 1871 he retired with the rank of

post captain Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of Captain (Royal Navy), captain in the Royal Navy. The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from: * Officers in command of a naval vessel, who were (and still are) ...

. In 1869 he was elected to the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

for Camden, serving until his elevation to the Legislative Council in 1880. He died in 1882.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Onslow, Arthur 1833 births 1882 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council 19th-century Australian politicians

Arthur Arthur is a common male given name of Brittonic languages, Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. An ...