Ralph Bernal Osborne

File:Ralph Bernal Osborne, Vanity Fair, 1870-05-28.jpg

Caricature by ATn published in Vanity Fair in 1870.

Ralph Bernal Osborne of Newton Anner, County Tipperary, MP (26 March 1808 – 4 January 1882), born and baptised with the name of Ralph Bernal, Jr., was a British Liberal politician.

Life

He was the eldest son of London Sephardic Spanish Jewish Parliamentarian Ralph Bernal, himself an MP, who died in 1854, and wife Ann Elizabeth (née White). The younger Bernal entered the military in 1831, as an Ensign of the 71st (Highland) Regiment of Foot. He later served with the 7th (Royal Fusiliers) Regiment of Foot, and finally left the army in 1844 with the rank of Captain.

He had already been elected to Parliament in 1841 as a member for Chipping Wycombe, in the Liberal interest, and later sat for Middlesex (1847–57), Dover (1857–59), Liskeard (1859–65), Nottingham (1866–68), and Waterford City (1870–74).

In the Railway Times of 21 June 1845 he is the first person listed in the provisional committee for the Leicester, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Burton-upon-Trent and Stafford Junction Railway: Ralph R. Bernal Osborne, MP for Wycombe, address: Albemarle Street. The railway was never built.

Beside being a Parliamentarian, he was also Secretary of the Admiralty.

When he died, his house at Newtown Anner, Clonmel, County Tipperary, Munster, Ireland, was surrounded by more than 13,000 acres (53 km²) of land.

Family

On 20 August 1844 he married Catherine Isabella Osborne (30 June 1819 – 20 June 1880), from an Anglo-Irish landed family, the daughter of Sir Thomas Osborne, 9th Baronet and Catherine Rebecca Smith, and on the same day he took her name and his name was legally changed by Royal Licence, becoming Ralph Bernal Osborne.

His two daughters shared his estate. His older daughter, Edith Bernal Osborne, married at Slough, Ireland, on 7 February 1874 Sir Henry Arthur Blake. His younger daughter, Grace Bernal Osborne (d. London, 18 November 1926), married at Newtown Anner, County Tipperary, on 3 January 1874 William Amelius Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk, 10th Duke of St Albans. His grandson was Osborne Beauclerk, 12th Duke of St Albans.

Sources

• Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, USA: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 2, page 3031.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Ralph Bernal Osborne

Political offices
Preceded by Augustus Stafford	First Secretary of the Admiralty 1853–1858	Succeeded by Henry Thomas Lowry-Corry
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by George Robert Smith Sir George Dashwood, 5th Bt	Member of Parliament for Chipping Wycombe 1841 – 1847 With: Sir George Dashwood, 5th Bt	Succeeded by Martin Tucker Smith Sir George Dashwood, 5th Bt
Preceded by Thomas Wood Lord Robert Grosvenor	Member of Parliament for Middlesex 1847 – 1857 With: Lord Robert Grosvenor	Succeeded by Robert Hanbury Lord Robert Grosvenor
Preceded by Edward Royd Rice Viscount Chelsea	Member of Parliament for Dover 1857 – 1859 With: Sir William Russell, 2nd Bt	Succeeded by Sir Henry John Leeke William Nicol
Preceded by Ralph Grey	Member of Parliament for Liskeard 1859 – 1865	Succeeded by Sir Arthur Buller
Preceded by Sir Robert Clifton Samuel Morley	Member of Parliament for Nottingham 1866 – 1868 With: Viscount Amberley	Succeeded by Sir Robert Clifton Charles Wright
Preceded by Sir Henry Barron, 1st Bt James Delahunty	Member of Parliament for Waterford City 1870 – 1874 With: James Delahunty	Succeeded by Richard Power Purcell O'Gorman