Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 1 Vol 2.djvu/424

CREWE — CRICHTON. 423 III. 1835. 3. Hun'geeforij (Crewe), Baron Crewe ot? Crewe, onlys. and h., b. 10 Aug. 1812, in Cavendish Square ; cd. at Eton ■; Metric, at Oxford (Ch. Ch.) 9 June 1S31. Family Estates.— These, in 1883, consisted of 10,148 acres in Cheshire ; Staffordshire; 4,093 in Durham ; 2,407 in Northumberland and 907 in Wilts. ' Total, 23,094 acres, north £35,888 a year. Principal Residence, Crewe Hall, near Nantwich, Cheshire. CEICHEL. Sco "Alington of Ciuchel, co. Dorset," Barony (S(ur(),'cv. 1876. CRICHTON. Barony. [s.J J. William Criohto.y of Crickton, co. Edinburgh, s. I. 1443? !U;c ' ^' °^ John C.( a ) o£ the same, by Christian his wife, was Knighted, 1421,Jat the coronation of James I [SJ ; Gent, of the Bed- chamber ; was on an embassy to Norway, 142G ; was Sheriff o£ Edinburgh, Master of the Household and Keeper of Edinburgh Castle, under James I [Sj, which last office gave the young King, James II [S.] (virtually) into his power in 1437,( b ) and was accordingly made Chancellob [S.] in May or June 1439 ; being a: LOUD CBICHTON [S.J, probably as early as 1 443 ;(*) he was one of the conservators of a nine years peace with England from 1 May 1438 ; one of the chief contrivers of the murder of the Earl of Douglas in 1410 ; dismissed from the Chancellorship and attainted in 1443, being, in 1445, blockaded in Edinburgh Castle, but surrendering on such advantageous terms that he was pardoned in full and again received into favour and re-appointed Chancellor [S.J in 1448, and had a safe conduct thro' England as " IFiUielmus, Dominus Crcghton, Miles, Canccllarius,"^) 23 April 1448, t<> conclude the marriage of the King with Mary of Guelches. He founded the Collegiate Church at Crichton, 26 Aug. 1449. He m. Agnes. He continued in his oltiee of Chancellor till his death, in 1454. ( a ) This Sir John was kinsman, tho' probably not (as is often stated) elder br. of Stephen Crichton of Cairns, the father of George, Earl of Caithness [S.], 1452. (°) " The reign of James II began with a struggle between Crichton and his rival, Livingston, for possession of the King's person. A fusion of the factions took place in 1439, from the apprehension of each that Douglas (the 5th Earl), who had stood aloof would side with the other. In May or June 1439, Crichton was for the first time mado Chancellor [S.] and it was at his instigation, apparently, that the 6th Earl of Douglas (who had succeeded his Father) was arrested with his brother on a charge of treason, and, after a hasty trial, beheaded. This was in Nov. 1440. In 1443 Crichton was attainted (thro' the influence of the 7th Earl of Douglas) and deprived of his Chancellorship. In the Exchequer Bolls [S.J he begins to be persistently called Lord Crichton (dominus de Crcchtoun) in 1444. The evidence as to whether he was made a Lord of Parliament before or after his disgrace is in favour of the earlier date, as it waB not till 1445, that, being besieged in Edinburgh Castle, by the faction that then had the possession of the King, he, on capitulating, had a promise of remission for the past, and favour for the future. In 1448 he was again Chancellor and sent abroad on a confidential mission connected with the King's marriage." Ex. inform G. Burnett, Lyon. (o) " The habitual use of Dominus dc, for what would now he called the Laird of, renders it very difficult to distinguish that class of Lords, or Lairds, from the actual Lords of Parliament. Making, however, every allowance for the carelessness and laxity prevailing in the 14th and 15th centuries, the following conclusion seems in all probability to be correct.— When such designations are met with as 'Hugo Gitfard, Dominus de Yester,' 'Alexander Setoun, Dominus dc Gordoun,' or even, simply, ' Dominus de Calcnler,' they may be considered as equally applicable to the Laird of the territory, as to the Lord of Parliament ; but when the christian name is found, without surname, followed by Dominus de, as ' WiUclmus, Dojninus de Crcchtoun ' ' Patricius, Dominus de Ulummis,' and still more in a designation like 'Andreas, Dominus Le Gray ' (or, similarly 'David, Comes Craufurdim ct Dominus Lb Lyndessay'),