Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 3.djvu/520

500 CRAVEN CRAVEN, CRAVEN OF HAMPSTED MARSHALL and CRAVEN OFUFFINGTON BARONY. I. William Craven, s. and h. of Sir William C, I -- Lord Mayor of London (1610-1 1), by Elizabeth, da. ' of William Whitmore, was bap. 26 June 1608, at St. /. Andrew Undershaft, and sue. to his father's large " fortune when aged about 10; five years later he matric. at Oxford (Trin. Coll.) 11 July 1623, being cr. M.A. VISCOUNTCY ^i Aug. 1636. He was knighted 4 Mar. 1626/7, at and EARLDOM. Newmarket, and 8 days afterwards, on 12 Mar. 1626/7, I. 166, was cr. "BARON CRAVEN OF HAMPSTED to MARSHALL, Berksj'^^") with rem. to the heirs male jgq-,^ of his body, which failing, with rem. to John Craven, his brother,() rem. to Thomas CravenjC") another RAROMY brother, in like manner. He gained some military distinction under the Prince of Orange, as, also, in 1632, I. 1666. as commander of the English forces in Germany, at the taking of Kreuznach on behalf of the Elector Pala- tine, where he was wounded. Again, in 1637, he was with the force [to which he was willing to contribute ;{, 30,000] sent to assist the young Elector and his widowed mother, the Ex-Queen of Bohemia, which was de- feated by the Imperialists, near Wesel, he himself being wounded and (to- gether with Prince Rupert) taken prisoner, though released in Aug. 1639 for a ransom of ;^20,ooo. He is said to have, soon afterwards, contributed to the unfortunate Ex-Queen of Bohemia her English pension of ;^io,ooo a year, which was unpaid. In her court at the Hague C^) be continued till the restoration of Charles II, who, himself, had received at least £^of)QO from him during his exile, in addition to large sums advanced to the late King. He placed his London house (in Drury lane) at the disposal of the Ex-Queen of Bohemia, where she resided 26 May 1661 till within a fortnight of her death, which occurred 23 Feb. 1662. C') During the great plague in 1665 he (with Archbishop Sheldon and the Duke of Albemarle) (^) See Creations, 1 483- 1 646, in App., 47th Rep., D.K. Pub. Records. C") See tabular pedigree. ('^) He is sometimes said to have been her " Master of the Horse," a post which he may have nominally held at the Court of her husband Frederick; but y^^^r^iif thisis not a confusion with Sir Robert Craven, who d. 6 Oct. 1672, aged 40, and who is stated on his monument in Bath Abbey to have been "sometime Master of the Horse to the Queen of Bohemia." {^) As to the popular belief that they were married, there appears to be no founda- tion for it, and the rumour was not even contemporary, the idea then current being that he wished to marry the Queen's 1st da., Elizabeth, who was but 7 years his junior. The matter is well discussed in Diet. Nat. Btog. It may also be mentioned that there being no executor named in the Ex-Queen's will, the proving it was granted 4 Mar. 1661/2 to her son Prince Rupert, which, there being no renunciation thereof on behalf of (the next of kin) her husband, certainly implies that she did not then possess one.