Name Mitford Crowe | Died December 15, 1719 | |
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Mitford Crowe or Crow (1669 – 1719) was an English merchant, politician, diplomat and colonial administrator.
Life
He was the son of Patrick Crowe of Ashington, Northumberland, and brother of Christopher Crowe, diplomat, who married Charlotte, daughter of Edward Lee, 1st Earl of Lichfield, widow of Benedict Calvert, 4th Baron Baltimore. Mitford Crowe was first apprenticed to a Barbados merchant. He then into trade on his own account in Barcelona. He was Member of Parliament for Southampton 1701–2.
In early 1702 Crowe was nominated for the position of governor of Barbados; but he was instructed just days before the death of the king. On this occasion Bevil Granville became governor.
Crowe was employed as British diplomatic agent in Catalonia, where he persuaded the Catalans to support the cause of Archduke Charles of Austria, the Habsburg claimant to the Spanish throne. Sidney Godolphin sent him first to Genoa to contact the Catalans; and Cloudesley Shovell was required to liaise with Crowe on an attack against Barcelona.
Lord Fairfax made Crowe one of the trustees under his patent for securing all wrecks occurring in the West Indies, and he was governor of Barbados from 1707 to 1711. He quarrelled with the Barbados council, and Christopher Codrington stepped in to mediate. Crowe's replacement Robert Lowther was appointed in July 1710 but was tardy in arriving on the island.
Crowe was on good terms with Jonathan Swift, and is mentioned in Swift's letters from London in 1710–12. He died 15 December 1719.