Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/313

Osgod Clapa was Henry de Cliffe. His niece Isabella was granted a maintenance for life at the expense of the prior and convent of Coventry, in consideration of Adam's services to the king.

 OSGOD CLAPA (d. 1054), a thegn in the service of Cnut, was no doubt a Dane by birth. He first appears as witness to a charter in 1026, when he is styled 'Osgod minister' (Codex Diplomaticus, iv. 748). His name occurs frequently witnessing charters down to 1046, generally under the title of 'minister,' but sometimes as 'miles,' In 1033 he is mentioned in conjunction with Tofig Pruda (ib. iv. 749). It was on the occasion of the wedding feast of Osgod's daughter, Gytha, and Tofig, on 8 June 1042, that Harthacnut died while drinking in Osgod's house at Lambeth. Freeman suggests that Osgod opposed the accession of Edward the Confessor, and that his subsequent exile was due to this. However, Osgod witnesses a number of royal charters in 1044 and 1045, and one in 1046 (ib. iv. 768-83). The last shows that the 'Abingdon Chronicle ' is correct in stating that it was in 1046, before midwinter, that Osgod was outlawed, and not in 1044, 1045, or 1047, as elsewhere stated. Osgod apparently went to Denmark, and took service with Swegen Estrithson. In 1049 there came news that he was at Ulp, on the coast of Flanders, with thirty-nine ships. Edward sent ships to watch him; but Osgod, having fetched his wife from Bruges, went back to Denmark with six ships, while the remainder harried the coast of Essex. In 1054 Osgod died suddenly in his bed (English Chron.) He had, as it would seem, come back to England, but 'we have no account of the time or circumstances of his return' (Norman Conquest, ii. 373). Heremann and Abbot Samson, in their narratives on the 'Miracles of St. Edmund,' relate how Osgod was miraculously punished for his pride in entering the abbey church armed with his battle-axe, when he once happened to be at Bury St. Edmunds with King Edward. Before this Osgod had been an enemy to the saint and his abbey, but afterwards he reformed his life and ways. Samson says he was of such power and repute as to be held second only to the king. Heremann calls him 'Major domus,' which is no doubt the equivalent of 'staller,' by which title he is once referred to in the 'English Chronicle' (Monuments Historica Britannica, p. 436). Osgod was a benefactor of Tofig's foundation of Waltham Abbey.

Clapham, Surrey, is said to owe its name to Osgod's house there.

 OSGOODE, WILLIAM (1754–1824), Canadian jurist, son of William Osgoode of St. Martin's, London, was born in England in 1754. According to the French Canadian writer Garneau, who does not state any authority, he was a natural son of George II. Osgoode matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, in 1768, graduated B.A. in 1772, and M.A. in 1777. He became a law student at Lincoln's Inn in 1773, and was called to the bar in 1779. In the same yearhe published 'Remarks on the Laws of Descent,' criticising the views of Mr. Justice Blackstone on this subject. In 1791, after the Canada Bill, Osgoode was appointed chief justice of Upper Canada. He sailed thither in April 1792, accompanied by General Simcoe, the lieutenant-governor of the Upper Province. In 1794 Osgoode was made chief justice of the province of Lower Canada, and settled at the capital, Quebec. Besides the chief-justiceship, he was given the office of president of the committee for the management of the public lands. He excited great dissatisfaction among the French Canadians by the partiality with which he assigned the largest grants to English settlers. The French settlers complained of Osgoode to General Prescott, who became lieutenant-governor of the Lower Province in 1797. The latter promptly took up their side, and a bitter dispute ensued between him and the chief justice. The executive council, which at that time held the supremacy in the colonial government, was closely allied with Osgoode. General Prescott was thus isolated, and his attempts to reform the management of the public lands proved a failure. Both parties eventually appealed to the Duke of Portland, home minister for the colonies, and, after a long correspondence, General Prescott was recalled in 1800. In 1801 Osgoode resigned his office of chief justice of Lower Canada, and returned home. He received a large pension, and lived for the rest of his life in London. He was a strong tory in politics, and on good terms with the chiefs of the government; but he took no part in law or politics beyond twice sitting on royal commissions on the courts of law. He died at his chambers in the Albany on 17 Jan. 1824. 