John Crew, 1st Baron Crew of Stene (1598 – 12 December 1679) was an English lawyer and politician, who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

at various times between 1624 and 1660. He was a

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...

and sided with the

Parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...

cause during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. He was raised to a peerage as

Baron Crew Baron Crew, of Stene in the County of Northampton, was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created on 20 April 1661 for the politician John Crew. He was the son of Sir Thomas Crewe, Speaker of the House of Commons. Lord Crew was succeed ...

by Charles II after the

Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

Career

Crew was the son of Sir Thomas Crew of Nantwich, Cheshire and Steane and his wife Temperance Bray, daughter of Reynold Bray of Steane. His father was

Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings. Systems that have such a position include: * Speaker of ...

from 1623 to 1625. Crew entered

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

in 1615 and matriculated at

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

on 26 April 1616, aged 18. He was called to the bar in 1624.History of Parliament Online - Crew, John
/ref> In 1624, Crew was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Amersham Amersham ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, in the Chiltern Hills, northwest of central London, from Aylesbury and from High Wycombe. Amersham is part of the London commuter belt. ...

and was re-elected in 1625. He was elected MP for

Brackley Brackley is a market town and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England, bordering Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, from Oxford and from Northampton. Historically a market town based on the wool and lace trade, it was built on the inters ...

in 1626. In 1628 he was elected MP for

Banbury Banbury is a historic market town on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. It had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding area of north Oxfordshire ...

and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. In April 1640, Crew was elected MP for Brackley in the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on the 20th of February 1640 and sat from 13th of April to the 5th of May 1640. It was so called because of its short life of only three weeks. Aft ...

. He was elected MP for

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

in November 1640 for the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

. He voted against the attainder of Strafford, but supported Parliament when Civil War came, although he was a moderate, suspicious of the Army and supported the

Self-Denying Ordinance The Self-denying Ordinance was passed by the English Parliament on 3 April 1645. All members of the House of Commons or Lords who were also officers in the Parliamentary army or navy were required to resign one or the other, within 40 days fro ...

. He was chosen chairman of the Commons Committee on Religion, was one of the parliamentary commissioners sent to negotiate with the Royalists at

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxbrid ...

in 1645, and was one of those entrusted with the custody of the

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

Holdenby House Holdenby House is a historic country house in Northamptonshire, traditionally pronounced, and sometimes spelt, Holmby. The house is situated in the parish of Holdenby, six miles (10 km) northwest of Northampton and close to Althorp. It is a ...

after the Scots handed him over to Parliament in 1647. However, the following year the army leaders, knowing that he would oppose the trial of the King, had him arrested and he was excluded from his parliamentary seat in

Pride's Purge Pride's Purge is the name commonly given to an event that took place on 6 December 1648, when soldiers prevented members of Parliament considered hostile to the New Model Army from entering the House of Commons of England. Despite defeat in the ...

. He returned to the Commons as MP for

in 1654 for the

First Protectorate Parliament The First Protectorate Parliament was summoned by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Instrument of Government. It sat for one term from 3 September 1654 until 22 January 1655 with William Lenthall as the Speaker of the Ho ...

but was once again excluded by the government. Despite this, he was summoned by the

Lord Protector Lord Protector (plural: ''Lords Protector'') was a title that has been used in British constitutional law for the head of state. It was also a particular title for the British heads of state in respect to the established church. It was sometimes ...

to sit in his new House of Lords, which first met in 1658. After the collapse of the restored

Rump Rump may refer to: * Rump (animal) ** Buttocks * Rump steak, slightly different cuts of meat in Britain and America * Rump kernel, software run in userspace that offers kernel functionality in NetBSD Politics *Rump cabinet * Rump legislature * Ru ...

he resumed his seat in the briefly resurrected unpurged House, then was elected once more for

in the Convention Parliament. He was appointed to the

Council of State A Council of State is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head o ...

, and was one of the delegation sent to meet Charles II at

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

and arrange his return to the throne. On 20 April 1661, Crew was created Baron Crew of Stene in recognition of his efforts to promote the

, and thereafter retired from active politics. A wealthy man, he had bought a large house in

Lincoln's Inn Fields Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a long series of entrepreneurs who took a hand in develo ...

during the 1650s, and was a well-regarded host;

Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys (; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English diarist and naval administrator. He served as administrator of the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament and is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade. Pepys had no mariti ...

, who was a retainer and poor relation of his son-in-law Edward Montagu and mentions him many times in his diaries, was a frequent guest. Crew died in 1679 and was buried at Steane, Northamptonshire.

Family

Crew married Jemima Waldegrave, daughter of Edward Waldegrave of

Lawford Lawford is a large village and civil parish in the Tendring district of northeast Essex, England. It is approximately northeast from the centre of Colchester and west of, and contiguous with, Manningtree. Mistley merges with the east side of M ...

Hall in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. Their children included: * Sir Thomas Crew (1624–1697), who succeeded his father in the peerage but died without male issue * Rev. Nathaniel Crew (1633–1721),

Bishop of Durham The Bishop of Durham is the Anglican bishop responsible for the Diocese of Durham in the Province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler has been the Bishop of Durham ...

, who succeeded his older brother as 3rd Baron * Jemima, Countess of Sandwich (1625–1674), who married Edward Montagu, later

Earl of Sandwich Earl of Sandwich is a noble title in the Peerage of England, held since its creation by the House of Montagu. It is nominally associated with Sandwich, Kent. It was created in 1660 for the prominent naval commander Admiral Sir Edward Montagu. ...

, in 1642. * Anne, who married

Sir Henry Wright, 1st Baronet Sir Henry Wright, 1st Baronet (c. 1637–1664) was a member of parliament for Harwich in the parliaments of 1660 and 1661. Biography Henry Wright was the only surviving son and heir of Laurence Wright (c. 1590–1657) M.D., of London, and of Da ...

, of

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest ...

. * Reverend Samuel Crew, died in 1660.

References

* ''Burke's Extinct Peerage'' (London: Henry Colburn & Richard Bentley, 1831

*D. Brunton &

D. H. Pennington Donald Henshaw Pennington (15 June 1919 – 28 December 2007) was a historian of 17th-century England. He taught at Manchester and Oxford universities, becoming a tutor at Balliol College, Oxford in 1965. Donald was born in Marple, Greater Manch ...

, ''Members of the Long Parliament'' (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954) *''Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803'' (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808

* ''Concise Dictionary of National Biography'' (1930) * Mark Noble (biographer), Mark Noble, ''Memoirs of several persons and families... allied to or descended from... the Protectorate-House of Cromwell'' (Birmingham: Pearson & Rollason, 1784

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crew, 1st Baron, John Crew 1598 births 1679 deaths 1 English landowners 17th-century English lawyers English lawyers English MPs 1624–1625 English MPs 1625 English MPs 1626 English MPs 1628–1629 English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1654–1655 English MPs 1660 Burials in Northamptonshire