Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Crewe, John

637486Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 13 — Crewe, John1888James McMullen Rigg

CREWE, JOHN, first Baron Crewe of Crewe (1742–1829), eldest son of John Crewe, M.P. for Cheshire 1734-52 (grandson of John Offley, who assumed the name of Crewe on marrying into the family), by Anne, daughter of Richard Shuttleworth of Gospworth, Lancashire, was born in 1742 and educated under Dr. Hinchliffe (afterwards bishop of Peterborough) and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He left the university without graduating, and after making the grand tour returned to England to reside on his estates. He was sheriff of Cheshire in 1764, was returned to parliament for Stafford in 1765, and for Cheshire in 1768, which he continued to represent till the close of the century. He seldom spoke in the house, but gave a steady support to the whig party, and in 1782 carried a bill for disfranchising officers of the excise and customs. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Crewe of Crewe in 1806. He was an enlightened agriculturist and a good landlord. He died on 28 April 1829. Crewe married in 1776 Frances Anne [q.v.], only daughter of Fulke Greville.

[Hinchliffe's Barthomley, pp. 306-10; Ormerod's Cheshire, ed. Helsby. iii. 314; Parl. Hist. xxi. 403, xxii. 1335-9; Wraxall's Hist. Mem. iii. 47.]

J. M. R.