Denzil Onslow of Pyrford (c. 1642 – 27 June 1721) was a British Whig politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1679 and 1721. Through advantageous marriages, he obtained a country estate and became prominent in Surrey politics of the Hanoverian era, although his great nephew Arthur Onslow, as Speaker, judged that Denzil knew "no more of the business [of the House of Commons] than one who had been of the standing of a session".
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Early career and marriage
As the sixth son of the Parliamentarian Sir Richard Onslow, he inherited little from his father. He was named after Denzil Holles, who stood as his godfather. Apprenticed in December 1661 to William Peake, of London, he soon turned elsewhere to seek his fortune. His elder brother Arthur had married Mary, the daughter of Sir Thomas Foote, 1st Baronet, a wealthy London grocer. Denzil married Mary's sister Sarah Lewis, the widow of Sir John Lewis, 1st Baronet. The money she brought to the match allowed him to buy the manor of Pyrford from Robert Parkhurst (the fourth of a line of the same name) which comprised approximately 1 square mile (2.6 km2) in 1677, a mixed quality agricultural estate, with patches of sandy soil and manor house in Surrey; and also the manor of Wisley.