Family and Education

b. c.1657. m. lic. 27 July 1687, aged 30, Frances (d. 18 Dec. 1693), da. and h. of Henry Sandford of Bobbing Court, wid. of Sir George Moore, 1st Bt., of Maids Moreton, Bucks., and of Edward Digges of Chilham Castle, Kent, s.p.1

Offices Held

Lt. of ft. Admiralty Regt. 1673, capt.-lt. 1684, capt. 1686-9; lt.-gov. Sheerness 1684, gov. 1690-d.; brevet col. 1694.

J.p. Kent Apr.-Oct. 1688, 1689-d., dep. lt. Feb.-Oct. 1688; jurat, Queenborough June 1688-?d.2

Biography

Crawford, an army officer of unknown origin, became second-in-command of the Sheerness garrison in 1684. His marriage to the heiress of the Bobbing Court estate, on the opposite shore of the Swale, strengthened his interest at Queenborough, for which he was recommended as court candidate in 1688. He headed the poll at the abortive election in September, and was again successful in January. A totally inactive Member of the Convention, he left no trace in the Journals except for two applications for leave, but he was probably a court Tory. Unlike most of his regiment he accepted the Revolution and was promoted to governor in 1690. A consistent government supporter under William III, he signed the Association; but he rejoined the Tories in the first Parliament of Queen Anne. He died in November 1706.3

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: Basil Duke Henning

Notes

• 1. Hasted, Kent, vi. 198; Canterbury Mar. Lic. iv. 169; Mar. Lic. (Harl. Soc. xxxi), 7.
• 2. Kent AO, Qb/RPp/1; CSP Dom. 1687-9, p. 274.
• 3. CSP Dom. 1687-9, p. 274; 1689-90, pp. 553, 555; Ailesbury Mems. 376; Le Neve, Mon. Angl. 1700-15, p. 123.