Name William Crawford Role Politician | Died April 27, 1843 | |
Wiliam Crawford (5 May 1780 – 27 April 1843) was a British Liberal Party politician who represented the City of London in the 19th century.
Crawford was born in London the son of Andrew Crawford, formerly of Dunfermline, and his wife Mary Spink. He spent his early life with the Honourable East India Company and made a fortune in India. He returned to England in around 1812, and was a partner in the East India Mercantile House (i.e. trading company) of Crawford, Colvin and Company. (See the Colvin family for more on the Anglo-Indian links.) He bought the estate of Pippbrook, near Dorking, Surrey in 1817 and made it his country home. In 1827 he was High Sheriff of Surrey.
He also had a house at Eaton Square, in the fashionable West End of London. He was a director of the Alliance Assurance Company and an alderman of the City of London in the Spectacle Makers' Company. In 1832 he stood unsuccessfully for parliament at Brighton at the general election in 1832, the first after the Reform Act. He was returned as Member of Parliament for the City of London in August 1833, and sat until he lost the seat in the Tory swing of June 1841. He was in favour of the abolition of the window tax and opposed the Corn Laws and short parliaments. He died at Woodmansterne, Surrey and was buried in St Peter's Church there.
Crawford married Dorothy Elizabeth Rees at Bombay on 11 January 1802. Five children were born in Bombay, and three in England. His son Robert Wigram Crawford was also MP for the City of London. His daughter Jane married Henry Ray Freshfield.