Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Ottley, Francis
OTTLEY, Sir FRANCIS (1601–1649), royalist, born in 1601, was son and heir of Thomas Ottley of Pitchford, Shropshire. The family claimed to be a younger branch of the Oteleys of Oteley, near Ellesmere, but had been settled at Shrewsbury in the fifteenth century (Burke, Visitation of Seats and Arms, 2nd ser. i. 193; Visitation of Shropshire, 1623, pp. 173, 382), and his mother was Mary, daughter of Roger Gifford, M.D. He matriculated from Lincoln College, Oxford, on 4 Dec. 1618, but left the university without a degree, and in 1620 was entered as a student of the Inner Temple. He took an active part in local affairs, and on the outbreak of the civil war became one of the leading royalists in Shropshire; he was knighted on 21 Sept. 1642. He was made governor of Shrewsbury, and on 2 Jan. 1642-3 compelled the inhabitants, under threats of death, to sign a declaration against parliament (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1642-1643, p. 437). In 1644 he resigned the governorship, possibly in resentment at Prince Rupert's harsh dealing with the townspeople (Owen and Blakeway, Hist. of Shrewsbury, ii. 445), and was nominated by the royalists as sheriff of Shropshire, Thomas Mytton [q. v.] being the parliamentary and officially recognised tenant of the post (List of Sheriffs, 1898, p. 120). Ottley was therefore not in Shrewsbury when it was surprised on 23 Feb. 1644-5. He continued to fight on the royalist side in Shropshire (cf.Webb, Civil War in Herefordshire, i. 241, 290, 381, ii. 128), but surrendered to the parliamentarians at Bridgenorth on 26 April 1646. The conditions were that he was to be allowed to go to Pitchford, and at the end of two months to make his choice between submission and banishment (articles printed in Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1645-7, pp. 422-3). He chose to submit, and on 16 June following petitioned to be allowed to compound for his delinquency. His fine was eventually fixed at 1,200l. on 25 June 1649, but Ottley died in London on 11 Sept. following. He married (Harleian MS. 1241, f. 336) Lucy, daughter of Thomas Edwards, sheriff of Shropshire in 1621, and by her had, besides other issue, a son, Sir Richard, who was gentleman of the privy chamber to Charles II, and represented Shropshire in parliament from 1661 till his death on 10 Aug. 1670. The family died out early in the nineteenth century, when Pitchford passed to Charles Cecil Cope Jenkinson, third and last earl of Liverpool [q. v.]
Ottley carefully preserved the papers which passed through his hands, and they are of some importance for the history of the civil war in Shropshire and the neighbouring counties. Carte had access to them (cf. his History, iv. 455), but made little use of them. They were, however, utilised by Owen and Blakeway in their 'History of Shrewsbury (i. 415-44), and have recently been printed in 'Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica,' v. 291-304, vi. 21-37, vii. 84-110 and 303-319.
[Cal. State Papers, Dom.; Cal. Comm. for Compounding, pp. 1331, 1541, 1641, 1817; Owen and Blakeway's Hist. Shrewsbury; Blakeway's Sheriffs of Shropshire; Visitation of Shropshire, 1623 (Harleian Soc.); Le Neve's Pedigrees of Knights, p. 79; Collectanea Top. et Gen. vols. v. vi. and vii.; Burke's Visitation of Seats and Arms; Webb's Civil War in Herefordshire; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1500-1714; Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. iv. 331, 358, 408, 8th ser. viii. 387.]
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