Ralph Bernal Osborne
Ralph Bernal Osborne of Newtown Anner House, was a British Liberal politician.
Early life
He was born on 26 March 1808. He was the eldest son of London Sephardic Spanish and Portuguese Jewish Parliamentarian Ralph Bernal, himself an MP, who died in 1854, and his wife Ann Elizabeth.His paternal grandparents were Jacob Israel Bernal, a merchant, and Leah da Silva.
Career
Bernal entered the military in 1831, as an Ensign of the 71st (Highland) Regiment of Foot. He later served with the 7th 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, Dover, Liskeard, Nottingham, and Waterford City.
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 of land.
Personal life
On 20 August 1844 he married Catherine Isabella Osborne, from an Anglo-Irish landed family, the daughter of Sir Thomas Osborne, 9th Baronet, and Catherine Rebecca Smith. On the same day of their wedding, he took her name and his name was legally changed by royal licence, becoming Ralph Bernal Osborne. Together, they were the parents of two daughters:- Edith Bernal Osborne, who married, as his second wife, Sir Henry Arthur Blake, the son of Peter Blake of Corbally Castle, in 1874.
- Grace Bernal Osborne, who married, as his second wife, William Beauclerk, 10th Duke of St Albans, in 1874.
Descendants
Through his eldest daughter, he was a grandfather of three, Olive Blake, Lt. Arthur Blake, and Maurice Bernal Blake.Through his younger daughter, he was a grandfather of Osborne Beauclerk, 12th Duke of St Albans, Lady Moyra de Vere Beauclerk, Lady Katherine de Vere Beauclerk, Lady Alexandra de Vere Beauclerk, and Lord William Huddlestone de Vere Beauclerk, who both died unmarried.