Oswald Cawley

Who was Oswald Cawley?

Oswald Cawley, styled The Honourable from January 1918, was a British soldier and Liberal Party politician.

He was the fourth and youngest son of Frederick Cawley, 1st Baron Cawley and his wife Elizabeth Smith, daughter of John Smith. His older brother was Harold Thomas Cawley. Cawley was educated at Rugby School and New College, Oxford, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. He served as lieutenant of the Shropshire Yeomanry and became a captain of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry. He fought in the First World War, where he was killed in action near Merville.

Shortly before his death in 1918, Cawley had been elected in a by-election in January to succeed his father as Member of Parliament for Prestwich.

It was in memory of Oswald and two other sons - Harold and John - who died in the war that their father endowed a ward at Ancoats Hospital, Manchester, in 1919 at a cost of £10,000.