William Hillier Onslow, 4th Earl of Onslow, (7 March 1853 – 23 October 1911), was a British Conservative politician. He held several governmental positions between 1880 and 1905 and was also Governor of New Zealand between 1889 and 1892. Background and education Born at Old Alresford, Hampshire, Onslow was the only son of George Augustus Cranley Onslow, son of Thomas Cranley Onslow, second son of Thomas Onslow, 2nd Earl of Onslow. His mother was Mary Harriet Anne Loftus. In 1870, at the age of 17, he succeeded his great-uncle in the earldom of Onslow. He was educated at Eton and Exeter College, Oxford. Political career, 1880–1889 Onslow briefly served as a Lord-in-waiting (government whip in the House of Lords) under the Earl of Beaconsfield (Benjamin Disraeli) between February and April 1880 and held the same position under Lord Salisbury between 1886 and 1887, and later served under Salisbury as Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies between 1887 and 1888 (in which post he was vice president of the first Colonial Conference in April 1887) and as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade between 1888 and 1889. Governor of New Zealand, 1889–1892 In November 1888 Onslow was appointed Governor of New Zealand. As a result of the economic downturn in the late 1880s, he had sought a salaried position as a colonial governor. At 35, he was the youngest governor of New Zealand since George Grey was appointed in 1845 and the first since Robert FitzRoy in 1843 to have no previous experience in a vice-regal position. The New Zealand government had recently cut allowances for the governor, and Onslow was able to obtain the position mainly as it was no longer attractive to more senior colonial administrators. He assumed the office on 2 May 1889. Shortly after his arrival in Wellington, there was an outbreak of typhoid fever in the town. Onslow's twelve-year-old son and heir, Viscount Cranley, caught the disease and was at one time seen to be in danger of his life. After this Onslow and his family avoided the capital as much as they could - which did not endear them to the New Zealand people. According to the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Onslow did not "have the flair or flamboyance which helped some later governors win popular support". In 1890 Onslow became embroiled in controversy over appointments to the Legislative Council (the upper house