James Coutts Crawford (19 January 1817 – 8 April 1889), known as Coutts Crawford, was a Naval officer, farmer, scientist, explorer and public servant in New Zealand. Bethia Featherston, Andrew Sinclair and Jessie Crawford

Bethia Featherston, Andrew Sinclair and Jessie Crawford

He was born in

Strathaven Strathaven (; from gd, Strath Aibhne ) is a historic market town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland and is the largest settlement in Avondale. It is south of Hamilton. The Powmillon Burn runs through the town centre, and joins the Avon Water to the ...

South Lanarkshire gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Deas , image_skyline = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms_slanarkshire.jpg , image_blank_emblem = Slanarks.jpg , blank_emblem_type = Council logo , image_map ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, the son of naval officer

James Coutts Crawford James Coutts Crawford (20 July 1760 – 10 May 1828) was an officer in the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Crawford first went to sea aboard merchant vessel ...

, and his second wife, Jane. He came to New Zealand in 1839. He settled in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

and called his land holding

Kilbirnie Kilbirnie ( Gaelic: ''Cill Bhraonaigh'') is a small town of 7,280 (as of 2001) inhabitants situated in the Garnock Valley area of North Ayrshire, on the west coast of Scotland. It is around southwest of Glasgow and approximately from Paisle ...

after the

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in Scotland; the name is still in use as a Wellington suburb. Crawford was active in local affairs. He served on the

New Zealand Legislative Council The New Zealand Legislative Council was the upper house of the General Assembly of New Zealand between 1853 and 1951. An earlier arrangement of legislative councils for the colony and provinces existed from 1841 when New Zealand became a co ...

from 1859 to 1867. He died in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1889. It is likely that

Mount Crawford (South Australia) Mount Crawford is a hill in the locality also named Mount Crawford in South Australia approximately north of Birdwood in the Mount Lofty Ranges. History The Indigenous name for Mount Crawford was ''Teetáka''. The mount was given its present ...

is named after him.

Personal life

He was educated at the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth. He married: :Sophia Whitley on 28 November 1843; she died in 1852. They had a daughter Janet (1844, m. John Willis) and a son James Dundas (1850). :Jessie McBarnet in August 1857; she died in 1880. They had three sons: Henry Duncan (1859), Alexander Donald (1862) and Charles John (1867).

References

External links

Recollections of travel in New Zealand and Australia (1880)

1817 births 1889 deaths Members of the New Zealand Legislative Council 19th-century New Zealand politicians Scottish emigrants to New Zealand People from Strathaven Sheriffs of New Zealand {{NewZealand-politician-stub