A country gentleman who represented North Staffordshire in the 1830s, Mosley was a ‘half-Tory, half-Whig’. His ambiguous party allegiance led one observer to describe him as ‘a politician of dubious character’. A devout Evangelical, Mosley was among the leading supporters of legislation to enforce a strict observation of the Sabbath. He was an ancestor of Sir Oswald Mosley, Conservative then Labour MP and Fascist leader.