jubilee of the foreign missions took place in 1863. In the same year Osborn was elected president of the conference, and rendered great service to the missions by his advocacy of their claims in the large towns in England. On the retirement of the Rev. Thomas Jackson in 1868, he was elected professor of divinity at Richmond College, and continued to reside there till 1885. He was an able expository preacher, and was one of the most noted orators of his church. Originally he was strongly opposed to the admission of lay representatives to the conference, but when the matter had been carried against him, he at once acquiesced in the decision. In 1881 he was for the second time elected to the chair of the conference. From 1885 he was a supernumerary minister, and died at 24 Cambrian Road, Richmond, Surrey, on 19 April 1891.
His knowledge respecting the poetical writings of the Wesleys was exhaustive, and in 1868 he brought out ‘The Poetical Works of J. and C. Wesley, collected and arranged,’ an edition in thirteen volumes. His second important work was entitled ‘Outlines of Wesleyan Bibliography; or a Record of Methodist Literature from the beginning,’ 1869. He also printed a few sermons and addresses, and furnished prefaces to many books.
[Wesleyan Methodist Mag. June 1891, pp. 468–78; Illustr. London News, 6 Aug. 1881 pp. 124, 126, with portrait, 2 May 1891 p. 563, with portrait; The Fly Sheet, Test Act Tested, 1848.]
OSBORN, JOHN (1584?–1634?), worker in pressed horn and whalebone, was born in Worcestershire about 1584, where he appears to have been engaged in making cases, sheaths, or small boxes in horn and other material. About 1600 he emigrated to Holland, possibly for reasons of religion, settling at Amsterdam. There, on 2 June 1607, he entered on a contract of marriage with Frances Cotton of Berkshire, in England, then living at Uilenburg, in Holland. Osborn became one of the principal workers in horn and whalebone in Amsterdam, and his works appear to have been highly valued. Such as have survived are portraits in pressed horn; two medallions, dated 1626, with portraits of Frederic Henry, prince of Orange, and Amalia van Solms, his wife, are in the British Museum; and a similar medallion, with a portrait of Henry VIII, is in the Ryks-Museum at Amsterdam. Osborn died about 1634, and appears to have left a son, Constantyn Osborn, who carried on his business. He also had a brother, Richard Osborn, engaged in the same trade, with whom, however, he had considerable litigation.
[Oud-Holland, v. 509; Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting.]
OSBORN, ROBERT DURIE (1835–1889), lieutenant-colonel, was born at Agra 6 Aug. 1835. His father, Henry Roche Osborn, entered the East India Company's service in May 1819, and served most of time in the 64th native infantry, but latterly was lieutenant-colonel of the 18th native infantry; he died at Feromepore in 1819. Robert was educated for a cadet at Dr. Greig's school at Walthamstow, and was appointed ensign of the 26th Bengal native infantry 16 Aug. 185i, becoming lieutenant on 31 July 1857. He served throughout the Indian mutiny campaign of 1857-9, and was present in the actions of Boolundshuhur on 27 Sept., and at Allyghur on 5 Oct. 1867. He commanded a detachment of the 4th Punjaub infantry at the actions of Gungeree and Puttiallee, was present in various operations against the rebels in the Agra district, served with Colonel Troup‘s column in Oude in November 1858, and took part in the action at Biswah. From January to May 1859 he was with the Saugor field force under General Whitelock; he afterwards commanded a field detachment in the Ooraie district, and later on defeated the party of rebels at Tudhoorkee. In 1859-60 he was with the Bundelcund field force under Brigadier Wheeler, and for his services received a medal. He was lieutenant in the Bengal staff corps 30 July 1857 and captain 20 Dec. 1865. On 25 Aug. 1869 he became adjutant of the 2nd regiment of Sikh irregular cavalry, a regiment converted into the 12th regiment of Bengal cavalry in 1861, in which Osborn was third squad officer from 4 Nov. 1865 to 17 May 1866. He was captain in his regiment 8 June 1868 to 1872. In the Latter year he was appointed tutor to the Paikharah wards, became major 20 Dec. 1873, and retired with the honorary rank of lieutenant-colonel 1 May 1879. 1Ie served through the Afghan campaign of that year, but retired after the signature of the treaty of Gundamuk.
Osborn was a serious thinker on both religious and political topics. As a young man he enjoyed the friendship of F. D. Maurice and of Charles Kingsley, and occasionally write papers in the magazines on Maurice’s religious position and influence. While in India he was a conscientious student of oriental religions, and spent fourteen years in digesting the tangled materials for his two works, ‘Islam under the Arabs,' 1876, and ‘Islam under the Khalifs of Baghdad,’ 1877;
