Sir Robert Onley

Sir Robert Onley was a woolman who was mayor of Coventry in 1475 and 1485 and a member of parliament in 1485 (Warwickshire VCH 8 sub The City of Coventry: Parliamentary representation). He owned the ‘Bull’ in Smithford Street, where Henry VII lodged a few days after the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.

Events

Date of Birth: unknown.

Place of Birth: unknown.

Date of Death: unknown.

Place of Death: unknown.

A Robert Onley appears on a list of staplers in Coventry in 1505 (Berger, p. 95).

Relationships

Father: unknown.

Mother: unknown.

Harris mentions presumed ancestors of Robert: A (namless) standard-bearer in the English army at the time of Edward III; his son, John Onley, who is said to be the first Englishman born in Calais after it was taken by Edward III, and who later became twice mayor of the Calais Staple and twice mayor of Coventry; and his son John Onley, who was apprenticed to Thomas Aleyn, a London mercer. The last named John, when still an apprentice, spent some time in 1413 as a hostage in Bruges. He moved back to Coventry and set up business there. Perhaps he is the John Onley who appears on a list of staplers in Coventry in 1472. It is not clear exactly how Sir Robert Onley is related to the John Onleys. It is possible that he was the son of the younger one. (See also Dugdale, p. 148.)

Spouse: unknown.

Children:

(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project.)

John Onley (died 19 June 1512) married Jane Pontesbury.

Richard Onley

Evidence

from the Coventry Leet Book:

John Onley last appears in the Leet book in 1459, as one of the 24 electors of the mayor. Robert Onley first appears in 1461, as an elector of the mayor, and appears often thereafter, in a variety of roles until 1489. Robert was knighted on Henry VII’s visit to Coventry in 1486.

from the National Archives Catalogue:

C 1/217/7

1493-1500

Plaintiffs: Richard, son of Sir Robert Onley, knight.

Defendants: Richard Cokes, clerk, and Thomas Chircheman, of Coventry, feoffees to uses, and John Onley, complainant's elder brother.

Subject: Lands and tenements in Coventry. Warwickshire

References

Berger, Ronald M. Most Necessary Luxuries: The Mercers’ Company of Coventry, 1550-1680. (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1993).

Dugdale, Sir William. The antiquities of Warwickshire illustrated; from records, leiger-books, manuscripts, charters, evidences, tombes, and armes; beautified with maps, prospects, and portraictures. Vol 1. (2nd ed., 1730).

Harris, Mary Dormer trans and ed., The Coventry Leet Book: or Mayor’s Register. (1907-1913)

Harris, Mary Dormer. Life in an Old English Town: A History of Coventry from the Earliest Times compiled from official records. (1898).

Harris, Mary Dormer. The Story of Coventry (1911).

A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 8, the City of Coventry and Borough of Warwick (Victoria County History, London, 1969).