Phelps, of the island of Madeira and had a large family.
[Guardian, 18 June 1890, p. 973; Manchester Guardian, 14 Nov. 1883, 11 and 16 June 1890; Health Journal (Manchester), June 1887, with portrait; London Figaro, 24 Nov. 1883; information supplied by Mr. F. P. Oakley of Manchester.]
OAKLEY, OCTAVIUS (1800–1867), water-colour painter, born in Bermondsey, London, on 27 April 1800, was the son of a London wool merchant. He was educated at the school of Dr. Nicholas at Ealing and was intended for the medical profession. This design was frustrated by the embarrassed state of his father's affairs, and he was placed with a cloth manufacturer near Leeds. There he drew portraits of his acquaintances in pencil, and by degrees his practice increased so much that he left business and embarked on a professional career. About 1825 he settled in Derby, where he painted portraits in water-colours, and was patronised by the Duke of Devonshire and other noblemen of the neighbourhood. He removed to Leamington in 1836, and about 1841 he came to London. In 1842 he was elected an associate, and in 1844 a member, of the Society of Painters in Water-colours, where he exhibited in all 210 drawings of rustic figures, landscapes, and groups of gipsies, which earned for him the sobriquet of ‘Gipsy Oakley.’ Meanwhile he continued to send occasional portraits in water-colours to the Royal Academy, where he exhibited from 1826 until 1860.
Oakley died at 7 Chepstow Villas, Bayswater, London, on 1 March 1867, and was buried in Highgate cemetery. His remaining works were sold at Christie's in March 1869. Drawings by him of ‘Primrose Gatherers’ and ‘Buy my Spring Flowers’ are in the South Kensington Museum. His youngest daughter Isabel married Paul Jacob Naftel [q. v.], the water-colour painter.
[Art Journal, 1867, p. 115; Bryan's Dict. of Painters and Engravers, ed. Graves and Armstrong, 1886–89, ii. 220; Roget's History of the Old Water-Colour Society, 1891, ii. 268–271; Royal Academy Exhibition Catalogues, 1826–60; Exhibition Catalogues of the Society of Painters in Water-Colours, 1842–67.]
OAKMAN, JOHN (1748?–1793), engraver and author, was born at Hendon in Middlesex about 1748. He was at first apprenticed to the map-engraver, Emanuel Bowen [see under Bowen, Thomas], but left him in consequence of an intrigue with his daughter, whom he afterwards married. Oakman next kept a shop for the sale of caricatures and similar prints, and, having some literary facility, made money by writing several worthless and disreputable novels, such as ‘The Life and Adventures of Benjamin Brass,’ London, 1765, 12mo; ‘The History of Sir Edward Haunch,’ &c. A book called ‘The Adventures of William Williams, an African Prince,’ whom Oakman met in Liverpool gaol, had some success through its attack on slavery as an institution. Oakman had a considerable gift for song-writing, and wrote many popular songs for Vauxhall, Bermondsey Spa, &c. He also wrote burlettas for the performances at Astley's Theatre and elsewhere. Besides these occupations, he engraved on wood illustrations for children's books and cheap literature. After a somewhat vagrant life, Oakman died in distress at his sister's house in King Street, Westminster, in October 1793.
[Gent. Mag. 1793, ii. 1080; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists.]
OASLAND or OSLAND, HENRY (1625–1703), ejected minister, the son of ‘Edward Osland and Elizabeth his wife,’ was born at Rock in Worcestershire in 1625, and was baptised there on 1 May (Parish Register). His parents were well-to-do people, and Oasland, after having been educated at the grammar school at Bewdley, entered Trinity College, Cambridge, about 1644. The influence of Dr. Thomas Hill (d. 1653) [q. v.], who was master of Trinity College, gave his thoughts a religious turn, and he experienced a bitter feeling of remorse for having in earlier life engaged in dancing and sports on the Sabbath.
In 1648, when on a visit to his parents at Rock, he preached in the locality with great success. He graduated B.A. at Cambridge in 1649, and M.A. in 1653. In 1650 he temporarily officiated at Sheriff Hales in Staffordshire, while the incumbent went to London to be ordained by the assembly. He had already, on 1 Jan. 1649–50, taken part in Bewdley Chapel in a disputation between John Tombes, vicar of Bewdley, and Richard Baxter on the subject of infant baptism (Baxter, Infant Membership). Soon afterwards Tombes left Bewdley, and Oasland, after a first refusal, accepted the pastorate there in 1650. He always adapted his sermons to the requirements and capacities of his hearers, and his church was soon crowded. In 1651 he went to London, and was ordained by the presbyterian ministers S. Clarke and Simeon Ashe at Bartholomew's Exchange.
In 1661 he was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in a plot of the presbyterians against the government, which is known both as Pakington's plot and Baxter's plot.
