Family and Education

b. 1784, 3rd but 1st surv. s. of Charles Alexander Crickitt*. educ. Eton 1799. m. 1 June 1813, Juliana Maria Eliza, da. of Cornelius Henderixon Kortright, Danish planter, of St. Croix, and Hylands, Essex, s.p. suc. fa. 1803.

Offices Held

Bailiff, Ipswich 1805-6.

Biography

In 1803 Crickitt inherited his father’s partnerships in banks at Colchester, Ipswich and Chelmsford, his two brothers having died before their father. Being a minor he could not aspire to a seat for Ipswich on the family interest until 1806, but he set about restoring it. He was defeated in 1806, but successful in 1807; carried both Members in 1812 unopposed, and in 1818 after a contest. In 1820 he was unseated on petition.

Like his father, Crickitt was well inclined to government. His attendance varied: in 1808 he twice took leave of absence for illness. He rallied to Perceval’s ministry on the address, 23 Jan. 1810, and on the Scheldt divisions of 5 and 30 Mar., the Whigs listing him ‘doubtful’ from their point of view. He opposed sinecure reform, 17 May 1810, was in the government minority on the Regency proposals, 1 Jan. 1811, and opposed the abolition of McMahon’s sinecure, 24 Feb. 1812. He voted against Stuart Wortley’s motion for a more efficient administration, 21 May 1812. Listed a Treasury supporter after the election of 1812 and a steward of the Pitt Club in 1814, he steadily opposed Catholic relief in 1813, paired against it in 1816 and voted against it in 1817. He was in the minority on the East Indian ships registry bill, 6 June 1815. Otherwise all his known votes during that Parliament were with ministers, except for his opposition to the property tax, 18 Mar. 1816. In the next Parliament he showed more independence for, apart from votes with government against Tierney’s censure motion and the foreign enlistment bill, 18 May, 10 June 1819, he was in the minorities for review of the penal code, 2 Mar., against the malt duty, 9 June, and for the limited duration of the seditious meetings bill, 6 Dec. 1819. (He had been a supporter of the suspension of habeas corpus and its consequences in June 1817 and February 1818.) No speech is known and he failed in a petition to have assizes held at Ipswich in February 1810.

After his defeat in 1820 Crickitt suffered a further setback in the country bank crash of 1826. The Ipswich bank stood firm, but the Chelmsford one had to pay out 16s. in the £. Crickitt’s ‘honour and integrity were equal to his urbanity, and persons of all parties spoke of his losses with sorrow, and of his conduct with respect’. The Chelmsford bank had been considered one of the best managed of the country banks. Crickitt, who became a wine merchant, died 3 Jan. 1832, aged 47, leaving property valued at £4,000 to his wife.

Clarke, Ipswich (1830), 133, 143, 350; Gent. Mag. (1832), i. 81; Oxley Parker Pprs. 291; M. Benham, Among the Tombs of Colchester, 60; PCC 69 Tenterden.

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: R. G. Thorne

Notes