Family and Education

b. c.1555, 1st s. of Edward Osbaldeston and bro. of Geoffrey. m. bef. 1573, Ellen, da. and coh. of John Bradley of Bradley Hall, Chipping. 5s. 3da. suc. fa. 7 Sept. 1590.

Offices Held

Biography

Osbaldeston was one of the few Clitheroe MPs to owe his return to his own local standing. What little is known about him suggests that he was a country gentleman, farming the land he inherited from his father, whose will bequeathed him farming equipment, armour, weapons, plate, and the glass casements and wainscoting of Osbaldeston Hall. Both father and son carried out additions and improvements to the house, and the wainscoting mentioned in Edward’s will is still considered a fine example of its kind. There is no mention of Osbaldeston’s own religion, but his father was one of the most obstinate recusants in the county, and the private chapel at Osbaldeston Hall was served by a priest. Other members of the family were also Catholics, including a cousin Edward, who was a priest executed in 1594. Osbaldeston died in 1603 and was buried on 30 Nov. in Blackburn church.

Vis. Lancs. (Chetham Soc. lxxxii), 84; Abram, Blackburn, 603, 604; Lancs. and Cheshire Wills (Chetham Soc. li), 74-7; Baines, Lancs ed. Croston, iv. 56; VCH Lancs. iv. 322; Gillow, Burghley’s Map of Lancs. 20; G. Anstruther, Seminary Priests, i. 261.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: N.M.S.

Notes