John Crawley (MP)

Crawley was born on 26 April 1703 in an old Luton family. He was the eldest son of Sarah ({{nee}} Dashwood) Crawley, and Richard Crawley, Registrar of the Admiralty and MP for Wendover.{{cite book |last1=Blaydes |first1=Frederic Augustus |title=Bedfordshire Notes and Queries |date=1889 |publisher=A. Ranson |page=325 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1M8GAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA325 |access-date=8 November 2022 |language=en}}{{cite web |title=CRAWLEY, Richard (1666-1713), of Doctors' Commons and Northaw, Herts. |url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1690-1715/member/crawley-richard-1666-1713 |website=www.historyofparliamentonline.org |publisher=History of Parliament Online |access-date=9 November 2022}} Among his siblings were Sarah Crawley and Samuel Crawley, British consul in Smyrna.

His maternal grandparents were Anne ({{nee}} Smith) Dashwood (a daughter of John Smith of Tedworth and sister to John Smith, Chancellor of the Exchequer){{cite book|author1=Joseph Lemuel Chester|author2=Church of England. Province of Canterbury. Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury at London|title=Allegations for marriage licences issued from the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury at London, 1543 to 1869|url=https://archive.org/details/allegationsforma24chur|year=1886|page=[https://archive.org/details/allegationsforma24chur/page/113 113]|publisher=Harleian Society}}{{cite book|author=Arthur Collins|title=The Peerage of England; Containing a Genealogical and Historical Account of All the Peers of that Kingdom Etc. Fourth Edition, Carefully Corrected, and Continued to the Present Time. - London, H. Woodfall 1768|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_GZUAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA494|year=1768|publisher=H. Woodfall|pages=494–}} and Sir Samuel Dashwood, Lord Mayor of London and MP for the City of London.{{cite web|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1660-1690/member/dashwood-sir-samuel-1643-1705|title=Dashwood, Sir Samuel (c.1643–1705), of Bishopsgate, London and Mortlake, Surr., History of Parliament Online|accessdate=26 May 2015}} His paternal grandparents were Mary ({{nee}} Clutterbuck) Crawley (a daughter of London merchant Richard Clutterbuck) and Francis Crawley of Northaw, Baron of the Exchequer (son of Sir Francis Crawley, who was appointed Justice of the Common Pleas by the king in 1632, but was disabled by Parliament).

He succeeded to his father's estates in 1712. He was High Sheriff of Bedfordshire from 1735 to 1737. In 1740, Crawley built Stockwood House in Luton,{{cite web |title=Stockwood House Luton, History of Stockwood House |url=https://www.1stairporttaxis.co.uk/luton-attractions/stockwood-house.html |website=www.1stairporttaxis.co.uk |publisher=1ST Airport Taxis |access-date=9 November 2022 |language=en}} which his father bought in 1708.

In 1734, Crawley unsuccessfully contested Great Bedwyn as a Tory on the interest of the Bruce family, who had a long connection with Bedfordshire. Three years later Lord Bruce was able to provide him with a seat at Marlborough until 1747, after which he did not stand. In Parliament he voted against the Administration in all recorded divisions.

On 29 May 1740, Crawley married Susannah Sambrooke, a daughter of Sir Samuel Sambrooke, 3rd Baronet, of Bush Hill, Edmonton. Her brother was Sir Jeremy Sambrooke, 4th Baronet, MP for Bedford.{{cite book |last1=Burke |first1=Sir John Bernard |title=A genealogical and heraldic history of the extinct and dormant baronetcies of England, by J. and J.B. Burke |date=1838 |page=451 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K1kBAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA541 |access-date=9 November 2022 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Raineval |first1=Melville Henry Massue marquis de Ruvigny et |title=The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal: Being a Complete Table of All the Descendants Now Living of Edward III, King of England. The Isabel of Essex volume : containing the descendants of Isabel (Plantagenet) Countess of Essex and Eu, with a supplement to the three previous volumes |date=1994 |publisher=Genealogical Publishing Company |isbn=978-0-8063-1434-1 |pages=22, 281, 282 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nVBmAAAAMAAJ |access-date=9 November 2022 |language=en}} Together, they were the parents of two sons and two daughters, including:

• John Crawley (1743–1815), who married Elizabeth Hawley, a daughter of Dr. James Hawley of Leybourne Grange;{{cite book |title=The Connoisseur |date=1920 |publisher=Hearst Corporation |page=46 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G7VD-VvNcqsC&pg=PA46 |access-date=9 November 2022 |language=en}} her brother was Sir Henry Hawley, 1st Baronet.{{cite book |last1=Burke |first1=Bernard |title=A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire |date=1865 |publisher=Harrison |page=557 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8phVTmV9ChIC&pg=PA557 |access-date=9 November 2022 |language=en}}
• Susanna Crawley (1744–1830), who married the Rev. John Keet.{{cite book |title=The Solicitors' Journal & Reporter |date=1859 |publisher=Law Newspaper Company |page=96 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EmQqAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA96 |access-date=9 November 2022 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Nichols |first1=John |title=The Hundred of East Gascote |date=1971 |page=218 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xVc-AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA218 |access-date=9 November 2022 |language=en}}
• Sarah Crawley, who in 1784 married Thomas Halsey of Gaddesden Place, MP for Hertfordshire.{{cite book |last1=Cussans |first1=John Edwin |title=History of Hertfordshire |date=1881 |publisher=E. P. Publishing |isbn=978-0-85409-835-4 |page=128 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VR0qAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA128 |access-date=9 November 2022 |language=en}}
• Samuel Crawley (d. 1805), who bought the Dunham estate and married Eliza Rankin, heiress of Ragnall Hall, in 1788.{{cite book |last1=Chapmen |first1=John Henry |title=The Register Book of Marriages Belonging to the Parish of St. George, Hanover Square, in the County of Middlesex |date=1888 |publisher=Mitchell & Hughes |page=6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3x8XAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA6 |access-date=9 November 2022 |language=en}}

Crawley died on 9 September 1767. His estates were inherited by his eldest son John.{{cite web |title=CRAWLEY, John (1703-67), of Stockwood Park, Luton, Beds.. |url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1715-1754/member/crawley-john-1703-67 |website=www.historyofparliamentonline.org |publisher=History of Parliament Online |access-date=9 November 2022}} Upon John's death in 1815, the estates passed to his nephew, Samuel Crawley. His estate, Stockwood House, was demolished in 1964 and, today, is the site of Stockwood Park.{{cite web|url=http://www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/mk4custompages/CustomPage.aspx?PageID=26376§ionID=5645|title=Bedford Today|work=bedfordtoday.co.uk|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060614145123/http://www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/mk4custompages/CustomPage.aspx?PageID=26376§ionID=5645|archive-date=2006-06-14}}

Through his daughter Sarah, he was a grandfather of Sarah Halsey (d. 1864), who inherited the Halsey family estates and married Rev. John Fitz Moore and Joseph Thompson Whately (both of whom adopted the surname Halsey), MP for St Albans.{{cite book |title=Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland |date=1875 |publisher=H. Colburn |pages=294, 568 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZNEKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA568 |access-date=9 November 2022 |language=en}} Sarah's daughter, Georgiana Theodosia Halsey, married Col. Leopold Grimston Paget (youngest son of Berkeley Paget, MP, and a grandson of Henry Paget, 1st Earl of Uxbridge). Sarah's son Thomas Plumer Halsey, MP for Hertfordshire, whose descendants became the Halsey baronets.{{cite book |title=Debrett's Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage: In which is Included Much Information Respecting the Collateral Brances of Baronets, and the Issue of Knights |date=1921 |publisher=Dean & Son |page=333 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=430rhznNVhoC&pg=PA333 |access-date=9 November 2022 |language=en}}

Through his younger son Samuel, he was a grandfather of Samuel Crawley (1790–1852), who inherited the Stockwood, Dunham and Ragnall estates. He served as MP for Honiton and Bedford.{{cite book |last1=Thorne |first1=R. G. |title=The House of Commons |date=1986 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |isbn=978-0-436-52101-0 |page=524 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j0AsmWc5zYwC&pg=RA2-PA524 |access-date=9 November 2022 |language=en}}

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|before = Edward Lisle

|before2 = Francis Seymour

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{{s-title

|title = Member of Parliament for Marlborough

|years = 1737–1747

|with = Francis Seymour 1737–1741

|with2 = Sir John Hynde Cotton, Bt 1741–1747

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|after = Sir John Hynde Cotton, Bt

|after2 = John Talbot

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{{succession box | before=Thomas Groome| title=High Sheriff of Bedfordshire | years=1735–1737 | after=Francis Jessop}}}

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Category:1703 births

Category:1767 deaths

Category:High sheriffs of Bedfordshire

Category:Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies

Category:British MPs 1734–1741

Category:British MPs 1741–1747