John Crew, 1st Baron Crew of Stene (1598 – 12 December 1679) was an English lawyer and politician, who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1624 and 1660. He was a Puritan and sided with the Parliamentary cause during the Civil War. He was raised to a peerage as Baron Crew by Charles II after the Restoration.
Career
Crew was the son of Sir Thomas Crew of Nantwich, Cheshire and Steane and his wife Temperance Bray, daughter of Reynold Bray of Steane. His father was Speaker of the House of Commons from 1623 to 1625. Crew entered Gray's Inn in 1615 and matriculated at Magdalen College, Oxford on 26 April 1616, aged 18. He was called to the bar in 1624.[1]
In 1624, Crew was elected Member of Parliament for Amersham and was re-elected in 1625. He was elected MP for Brackley in 1626. In 1628 he was elected MP for Banbury and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years.[1]
In April 1640, Crew was elected MP for Brackley in the Short Parliament. He was elected MP for Northamptonshire in November 1640 for the Long Parliament. He voted against the attainder of Strafford, but supported Parliament when Civil War came, although he was a moderate, suspicious of the Army and supported the Self-Denying Ordinance. He was chosen chairman of the Commons Committee on Religion, was one of the parliamentary commissioners sent to negotiate with the Royalists at Uxbridge in 1645, and was one of those entrusted with the custody of the King at Holdenby House after the Scots handed him over to Parliament in 1647. However, the following year the army leaders, knowing that he would oppose the trial of the King, had him arrested and he was excluded from his parliamentary seat in Pride's Purge. He returned to the Commons as MP for Northamptonshire in 1654 for the First Protectorate Parliament but was once again excluded by the government. Despite this, he was summoned by the Lord Protector to sit in his new House of Lords, which first met in 1658. After the collapse of the restored Rump he resumed his seat in the briefly resurrected unpurged House, then was elected once more for Northamptonshire in the Convention Parliament. He was appointed to the Council of State, and was one of the delegation sent to meet Charles II at The Hague and arrange his return to the throne.
On 20 April 1661, Crew was created Baron Crew of Stene in recognition of his efforts to promote the Restoration, and thereafter retired from active politics. A wealthy man, he had bought a large house in Lincoln's Inn Fields during the 1650s, and was a well-regarded host; Samuel Pepys, who was a retainer and poor relation of his son-in-law Edward Montagu and mentions him many times in his diaries, was a frequent guest.
Crew died in 1679 and was buried at Steane, Northamptonshire.[1]
Family
John Crew married Jemima Waldegrave (pictured), with whom he had several children.
Crew married Jemima Waldegrave, daughter of Edward Waldegrave of Lawford Hall in Essex.[1] Their children included:
- Sir Thomas Crew (1624–1697), who succeeded his father in the peerage but died without male issue
- Rev. Nathaniel Crew (1633–1721), Bishop of Durham, who succeeded his older brother as 3rd Baron
- Jemima, Countess of Sandwich (1625–1674), who married Edward Montagu, later Earl of Sandwich, in 1642.
- Anne, who married Sir Henry Wright, 1st Baronet, of Dagenham, Essex.
- Reverend Samuel Crew, died in 1660.
References
- Burke's Extinct Peerage (London: Henry Colburn & Richard Bentley, 1831) [1]
- D. Brunton & D. H. Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
- Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808) [2]
- Concise Dictionary of National Biography (1930)
- Mark Noble, Memoirs of several persons and families... allied to or descended from... the Protectorate-House of Cromwell (Birmingham: Pearson & Rollason, 1784) [3]
Parliament of England |
Preceded by
Constituency re-enfranchised |
Member of Parliament for Amersham
1624–1625
With: William Hakewill 1624
Francis Drake 1625 |
Succeeded by
William Clarke
Francis Drake |
Preceded by
Sir Thomas Wenman
Edward Spencer |
Member of Parliament for Brackley
1626
With: Sir John Hobart |
Succeeded by
Sir Thomas Wenman
John Curzon |
Preceded by
Calcot Chambre |
Member of Parliament for Banbury
1628–1629 |
Succeeded by
Parliament suspended until 1640 |
Preceded by
Parliament suspended since 1629 |
Member of Parliament for Northamptonshire
1640
With: Sir Gilbert Pickering, Bt |
Succeeded by
Sir Gilbert Pickering, Bt
Sir John Dryden, Bt |
Preceded by
Parliament suspended since 1629 |
Member of Parliament for Brackley
1640–1648
With: Sir Martin Lister |
Succeeded by
Unrepresented after Pride's Purge |
Preceded by
Sir Gilbert Pickering, Bt
Thomas Brooke |
Member of Parliament for Northamptonshire
1654–1655
With: Sir Gilbert Pickering, Bt
Sir John Norwich, Bt
John Claypole
Sir John Dryden, Bt
Thomas Brooke |
Succeeded by
Sir Gilbert Pickering, Bt
John Claypole
William Boteler
James Langham
Thomas Crew
Alexander Blake |
Preceded by
Sir Gilbert Pickering, Bt |
Member of Parliament for Northamptonshire
1660
With: Sir Henry Yelverton, Bt |
Succeeded by
Sir Justinian Isham, Bt
George Clerke |
Peerage of England |
New creation |
Baron Crew
1661–1679 |
Succeeded by
Thomas Crew |
9 Annotations
language hat • Link
Description of John Crew(e) and family
from Bryant's Pepys bio:
"[Pepys] often dined at the table of Montagu's father-in-law, the Presbyterian magnate, John Crewe, at his fine new house in Lincoln's Inn Fields. Here he was always welcome: the Crewes, for all their greatness, were simple-hearted folk, and with the young members of the family, Lady Montagu and her brothers, Thomas and John, Pepys was almost on terms of equality. As for old John Crewe himself, he was always ready to discuss business or politics with this intelligent, respectful, prudent young man, his son-in-law's servant and kinsman, as he waited at his bedside or coach door. Only his wife was somewhat of a trial: 'the same, weak, silly lady as ever', Pepys found her long after, 'asking such saintly questions'."
David Gurliacci • Link
Crew, Charles I, and Hinchingbrooke
In 1647, Charles I had been put in the custody of the puritans controlling parliament, and John Crew was one of those responsible for overseeing him in Northamptonshire.
In June, the army snatched the king from parliament's control, although Crew still may have accompanied him. The captive king, his military controllers and "probably Crew," all visited Hinchingbrooke, where Crew's pregnant daughter, Jemima Montagu, was then mistress.
(Source: Claire Tomalin's "Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self," 2002, p. 28)
David Gurliacci • Link
1648 -- A "secluded member" of parliament
Crew was one of the members of parliament who were removed in Pride's Purge of December 1648. The purge removed members who were not enthusiastic about putting King Charles I on trial.
chip • Link
And it was this Parliament that remained that was called the Rump. When one realizes how all this was in the minds of the next several generations, it is easier to see happenings in the colonies and France as predetermined.
vicente • Link
Ld. Crewe introduced.
In the like Manner John Lord Crewe was introduced, between the Lord Mountagu and the Lord Rockingham; and his Writ being read, he was brought to the Barons Bench, and placed next below the Lord Ashley
From: British History Online
Source: House of Lords Journal Volume 11: 11 May 1661. House of Lords Journal Volume 11, ().
URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?com...
vicenzo • Link
Headlines jan 9th in the daily Grail 'Lord Crewe gets to decide the fate of curates and their stipen'
ORDERED, That the Lord Crewe is added to the Committee for Allowances to Curates.
From: British History Online
Source: House of Lords Journal Volume 11: 9 January 1662. Journal of the House of Lords: volume 11, ().
URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?com...
Date: 13/01/2005
Terry F • Link
"He had three brothers: Thomas (of Crawley, Hunts.), Nathaniel (of Gray's Inn), and Salathiel (of Hinton, Northants.)" L&M, iii.253.n2.
Terry Foreman • Link
John Crew, 1st Baron Crew of Stene (1598 – 12 December 1679) was an English Puritan politician, who sided with the Parliamentary cause during the Civil War but was raised to a peerage by Charles II after the Restoration.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Crew,_1st_Bar...
Bill • Link
CREW, JOHN, first Baron Crew of Stene (1598-1679), son of Sir Thomas Crew; M.P. for Amersham, 1625, for Brackley, 1626, 1640, for Banbury, 1628, for Northamptonshire, 1640; voted against Strafford's attainder, 1641 ; supported the 'self-denying ordinance'; arrested among the 'secluded members' for not approving Charles I's trial, 1648; M.P. for Northamptonshire, 1654, 1660; one of the council of state, 1660; met Charles II at the Hague; created Baron Crew of Stene, 1661.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.