Richard Alexander Oswald (17 February 1771 – 19 June 1841) was a Scottish Whig Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1832 to 1835.

Oswald was the son of George Oswald, a merchant of Scotstoun, Rector of Glasgow University and the grand nephew of Richard Oswald of Auchincruive.^[1][2]

At the 1832 general election Oswald was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ayrshire. He held the seat until 1835.^[3]

Oswald died at the age of 70.

Oswald married twice. His first wife was Louisa or Lucy Johnstone; the poet Robert Burns composed his verses, "O wat ye wha's in yon town?" to her. She died of consumption at Lisbon.^[4] Oswald then married in 1817 Lady Lilias Montgomerie, daughter of Hugh Montgomerie, 12th Earl of Eglinton, who was widow of Robert Dundas MacQue(e)n.^[5][6]

Oswald and Louisa had a son, Richard Oswald. He married Lady Mary Kennedy, daughter of Archibald Kennedy, 1st Marquess of Ailsa, and died in 1833.^[1][7] The family estates passed to a cousin, James Oswald, in 1841.^[4]

Thomas Spencer Lindsey married in 1818 Oswald's daughter Margaret Hester.^[8] Margaret Hester Oswald was described in an obituary as "the only daughter of the late Richard Alexander Oswald, Esq. of Auchencruive"^[9][10] Oswald's will shows that a beneficiary was a granddaughter Margaret Nina Lindsey.^[11]