John Holbrook Osborn was born on 14 December 1922 in Sheffield. He was educated at Rugby School and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and served in the war in West Africa. He married three times: Molly Suzanne in 1952; Joan Mary MacDermot in 1976; and Patricia Hine in 1989.
Osborn worked in the family business. Chairman of Hillsborough Divisional Young Conservative and Liberal Association from 1949 to 1953, he became Conservative MP for Sheffield Hallam in 1959 and held the seat until 1987. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations and for the Colonies from 1963 to 1964. From 1975 to 1979 he was a Member of the European Parliament. During his time as an MP he was a member of several Select Committees, including Science and Technology and Education, Science and Arts. He was knighted in 1983, and retired from Parliament in 1987.
John Osborn died on 2 December, 2015.