Sir Oswald Mosley, 2nd Baronet (27 March 1785 – 24 May 1871), was an English aristocrat, politician, historian and naturalist. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for several constituencies, authored several works in the aforementioned subjects and was High Sheriff of Staffordshire in 1814. A prominent Staffordshire landowner, he succeeded as the 2nd Baronet Mosley, of Ancoats, in 1798.

Family

He was the son of Oswald Mosley (17 March 1761 – 27 July 1789), son of John Mosley (1732–1798), created 1st Baronet Mosley, of Ancoats, in the Baronetage of Great Britain, on 8 June 1781, and his wife Elizabeth Bayley (died 1797), daughter of James Bayley (1705–1769) and Anne Peploe (1702–1769), daughter of Samuel Peploe. John Mosley was the son of Nicholas Mosley (died 1734) and Elizabeth Parker. He had four aunts. Mosley's family were prosperous landowners in Staffordshire. The family seat was at Rolleston Hall, near Burton upon Trent and he succeeded to the title of 2nd Baronet Mosley, of Ancoats, on 29 September 1798. His uncle Ashton Nicholas Mosley married his mother-in-law Mary Morley and had issue, who succeeded in the House.

Career

Educated at Rugby School, he then attended the University of Oxford where he graduated as a Doctor of Civil Law. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Portarlington 1806–1807, Winchelsea 1807–1812, Midhurst 1817–1818 and Staffordshire North 1832–1837. He was High Sheriff of Staffordshire 1814. He was appointed Fellow, Geological Society of London. He wrote a number of local and natural history books, including History of the Castle, Priory and Town of Tutbury (1832), Gleanings in Horticulture (1851) and Natural History of Tutbury (1863). He also published Family Memoirs (1849), which was essentially a history of the Mosley family.

Marriage and children

He married, on 31 January 1804, Sophia Annie Every (died 8 June 1859), daughter of Sir Edward Every, 8th Baronet, of Eggington, and Mary Morley (who married for a fourth time to Ashton Nicholas Mosley). Sophia was the sister of Henry Every who married his aunt Penelope Mosley. They had 12 children: