Alexander William Crawford Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford, 8th Earl of Balcarres (16 October 181213 December 1880), styled Lord Lindsay between 1825 and 1869, was a Scottish peer, art historian and collector.

Life

Lindsay was born at

Muncaster Castle Muncaster Castle is a privately-owned castle in the parish of Muncaster, Cumbria, England. It stands overlooking the River Esk (Ravenglass), River Esk, about a mile east of the coastal village of Ravenglass. It is recorded in the National Herit ...

in Cumbria, the son of James Lindsay, 24th Earl of Crawford. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. He travelled widely studying art. He published ''Progression by Antagonism'' in 1846 and ''Sketches of the History of Christian Art'' in 1847. He became an avid art collector and many of his acquisitions are on display in galleries around the world. He travelled to the Middle East in 1837/38, writing ''Letters on Egypt, Edom and the Holy Land''. Later, he wrote ''Etruscan Inscriptions Analysed'' (1872), and ''The Earldom of Mar during 500 years'' (1882). In 1864, he commissioned Charles James Freake to build a town house for the Lindsays in

Grosvenor Square Grosvenor Square ( ) is a large garden square in the Mayfair district of Westminster, Greater London. It is the centrepiece of the Mayfair property of the Duke of Westminster, and takes its name from the duke's surname "Grosvenor". It was deve ...

. His other passion was genealogy. He was the author of the three-volume ''Lives of the Lindsays'' on the genealogy of his family. In 1868 he published ''A memoir of Lady Anna Mackenzie, countess of Balcarres and afterwards of Argyll, 1621-1706'', which recorded the life of Lady Anna Mackenzie.A memoir of Lady Anna Mackenzie, countess of Balcarres and afterwards of Argyll, 1621-1706
Alexander Crawford Lindsay, 1868 In 1869, he inherited the earldom of Crawford and the earldom of Balcarres from his father James Lindsay, 24th Earl of Crawford, 7th Earl of Balcarres, Lindsay died in 1880 aged 68 in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, Italy and his coffin was brought home for burial in a new family crypt at

Dunecht House Dunecht House is a stately home on the Dunecht estate in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The house is protected as a category A listed building, and the grounds are included on the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland, the national ...

, near Aberdeen. Some time afterwards the body was stolen and eventually recovered from a shallow grave 14 months later. A monument marks where the body was found at Dunecht but the Earl's remains were reburied in the family vault in Wigan. A local poacher was convicted of grave robbing. Lindsay was succeeded by his son James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford.

Marriage and children

On 23 July 1846 Crawford married Margaret Lindsay, daughter of

Lt Gen Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...

James Lindsay and sister of Robert James Loyd-Lindsay VC KCB, 1st and last Baron Wantage of Lockinge. They had 7 children: * Lady Mary Susan Félicie Lindsay (died 27 November 1937), married Hon Frederick George Lindley Wood (later Meynell), son of

Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax (20 December 1800 – 8 August 1885), known as Sir Charles Wood, 3rd Baronet, between 1846 and 1866, was a British Whigs (British political party), Whig politician and Member of the Parliament. He was Chancel ...

. * Lady Alice Frances Lindsay (died 28 September 1915) married George Branson Eyre ( later assumed surname Archer Houblon). * Lady Margaret Elizabeth Lindsay (died 4 January 1912), married Lewis Majendie (MP), owner of

Hedingham Castle Hedingham Castle, in the village of Castle Hedingham, Essex, is arguably the best preserved Norman keep in England. The castle fortifications and outbuildings were built around 1100, and the keep around 1140. However, the keep is the only ma ...

* Mabel Lindsay * James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (28 July 1847 – 31 January 1913) * Lady Anne Catherine Sybil Lindsay (1858 – 15 December 1936), married Hon Francis Bowes-Lyon, son of

Claude Bowes-Lyon, 13th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne Claude Bowes-Lyon, 13th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne (21 July 182416 February 1904), styled The Honourable Claude Bowes-Lyon from 1847 to 1865, was a British peer. He was the 13th holder of the Earldom of Strathmore and Kinghorne, the pate ...

, and became

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was al ...

's paternal aunt-by-marriage. * Lady Jane Evelyn Lindsay (14 May 1862 – 2 January 1948)

Bibliotheca Lindesiana

The ''Bibliotheca Lindesiana'', was planned by Lord Lindsay and both he and his eldest son were instrumental in building it up to such an extent that was one of the most impressive private collections in Britain at the time, both for its size and for the rarity of some of the materials it contained. The bulk of the library was kept at Haigh Hall in Lancashire with a part at Balcarres. The 26th Earl issued an extensive catalogue of the library in 1910: ''Catalogue of the Printed Books Preserved at Haigh Hall, Wigan'', 4 vols. folio, Aberdeen University Press, printers. Companion volumes to the catalogue record the royal proclamations and philatelic literature. The cataloguing and organization of the library was a major task for a team of librarians led by J. P. Edmond. The manuscript collections (including Chinese and Japanese printed books) were sold in 1901 to

Enriqueta Augustina Rylands Enriqueta Augustina Rylands (31 May 1843 – 4 February 1908) was a British philanthropist who founded the John Rylands Library in Manchester. Early life Enriqueta Augustina was born in Havana, Cuba, and was one of five children including José ...

for the

John Rylands Library The John Rylands Research Institute and Library is a Victorian era, late-Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, neo-Gothic building on Deansgate in Manchester, England. It is part of the University of Manchester. The library, which opened to t ...

.Guppy, Henry (1946) "The 'Bibliotheca Lindesiana'", in: ''Bulletin of the John Rylands Library''; vol. 30, pp. 185-94

References

*
Earls of Balcarres

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Crawford, Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl Of 1812 births 1880 deaths Nobility from Aberdeenshire People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge 25 Earls of Balcarres Scottish art historians Scottish book and manuscript collectors

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

Life

Marriage and children

Bibliotheca Lindesiana

References

Further reading

External links