CREW, Thomas (c.1624-97), of Steane, Northants.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

18 July 1661
Mar. 1679

Family and Education

b. c.1624, 1st s. of John Crew. educ. G. Inn 1641; Padua 1647. m. (1) May 1650, Mary, da. of Sir Roger Townshend, 1st Bt., of Raynham, Norf., 1s. d.v.p. 3da.; (2) 1674, Anne, da. and coh. of Sir William Armine, 2nd Bt., of Osgodby, Lincs., wid. of Sir Thomas Wodehouse of Kimberley, Norf., 2da. Kntd. 26 Sept. 1660; suc. fa. as 2nd Baron Crew of Stene 12 Dec. 1679.1

Offices Held

J.p. Northants. 1656-at least 1666, commr. for militia 1659, Mar. 1660, assessment Aug. 1660-79, dep. lt. c. Aug. 1660-2; high steward, Banbury 1683-Oct. 1688.2

Biography

Crew was re-elected in 1660 to the family borough, two miles from Steane, without a contest. He seems to have been completely inactive in the Convention, in which his father also sat, though Lord Wharton regarded him as a friend. In the following election he was involved in a double return with Sir William Fermor, decided in his favour on 18 July 1661. He does not appear to have held county office for long, and his committee record suggests that he was one of the least active Members of the Cavalier Parliament; he was added to the committee of elections and privileges in 1666 and 1673 and to that for an estate bill in 1678. Perhaps his health was poor; he was suffering from continued apoplectic fits in 1662 and troubled with the vapours and dizzy spells in the following year. Nevertheless, Samuel Pepys found him ‘mighty busy’ to save his brother-in-law, Lord Sandwich (Edward Montagu I) from the committee for miscarriages in 1668, and with his father ‘bemoaning my lord’s folly in leaving his old interest, by which he hath now lost all’. Although he appears on the list drawn up by Sir Thomas Osborne in 1669 as one who might be engaged for the Court by the Duke of York, he probably remained in opposition. He was noted as ‘thrice worthy’ by Shaftesbury in 1677.3

Crew was re-elected at Brackley in February 1679, and again appears as ‘worthy’ on Shaftesbury’s list. He justified this description by voting for the exclusion bill, but otherwise leaves no trace on the records of the first Exclusion Parliament. He again voted for the bill in 1680, having meanwhile succeeded to the peerage, and was reckoned an opponent of James II in 1687. But he voted for a regency in 1689, and was considered hostile to the new government in the following year. He died on 30 Nov. 1697, and was buried at Steane, leaving £20,000 each to his three surviving daughters. His widow married Arthur Herbert. His brother, the Jacobite bishop of Durham, succeeded to the title and an estate of £6,000 p.a., and with him the male line of the Crews of Steane ended.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: M. W. Helms / John. P. Ferris

Notes

  • 1. Baker, Northants. i. 685.
  • 2. SP44/66/307.
  • 3. Pepys Diary, 31 Mar. 1662, 15 May 1663, 12 Feb., 15 Apr. 1668.
  • 4. Northants. RO, FH 2893D; Clarendon Corresp. ii. 256; Luttrell, iv. 313.