Hon. John O. Crewe

Awarded the compensation for Four Hills and and The Rock estates on Barbados.

Although there is room for confusion here, the 'Hon John O. Crewe' identified in the Slave Registers has been confirmed as the same man as the Hon. John Crewe (c. 1772-1835), the second Baron Crewe, a soldier who married 05/05/1807 Henrietta Maria Anne Hungerford, the heiress of George Walker of Barbados. The second Baron Crewe was alienated from his father, who on his death in 1829 had left most of his estate to his daughter Elizabeth Cunliffe-Offley, the sister of the man in this award.

1. The will of the Rt Hon. John Baron Crewe proved 28/05/1838 is five lines long. Headed 'Bois L'Eveque', dated 11/09/1834 and addressed to M.H. King & Whitaker Gray's Inn Square, it states that he has rents owing from his lifehold properties in Cheshire and Wiltshire and directs King & Whitaker to apply these rents to what he owes and to keep any surplus for their own use. The will of the Hon. Henrietta Maria Anne Crewe of Cavendish Square proved 23/06/1820 recapitulates her marriage settlement [as Henrietta Maria Anne Hungerford, spinster] with John Crewe, including the provision that certain estates in Barbados should be sold and £12,000 of the proceeds be invested and placed in trust under the settlement. The will of George Walker of Calais late of Cavendish Square and formerly of Barbados proved 17/08/1784 identifies his daughter as Henrietta Maria Anne Walker, refers to a settlement in Barbados for his son George and to the provision for his daughter Henrietta Maria Anne under his own marriage settlement: he also made Henrietta Maria Anne his heir in the case of the death of his son. Administration of the will of George Walker of St Peter Barbados - made 20/06/1793 - was granted 04/11/1826 to the Hon. John Crewe: in the will, George Walker left Four Hills and The Rock to his sister Henrietta Maria Ann[e] Hungerford, subject to certain legacies.

2. The man of the award is distinct from John Offley Crewe, later John Offley Crewe Read, the son of the Rev. Offley Crewe, despite a potential linkage to this family provided by the presence again of Edward Thomas Whitaker, the London solicitor, both at the NDO signing for the compensation under these awards, as an executor of John Offley Crewe Read in 1858 and in a later suit in 1867 of Davies v Read, where he appears with Offley Malcolm Crewe Read and others as defendants . Marriage settlement of John Offley Crewe with Miss Lake dated 3/8/1818. The King has granted to John Offley Crewe of Pen-y-Bryn Montgomeryshire, only son and heir of Rev. Offley Crewe, clerk, Rector of Muxton Staffs., in accordance with the will of Bagot Read of the city of Chester authority to take the additonal surname of Read. Administration of the person estate of John Offley Crewe Read late of Wern in the parish of Northop in the county of Flint and of Llandinam in the county of Montgomery who died 30/11/1858 left unadministered by Edward Thomas Whitaker and Peter Ellis Eyton granted to Helen Crewe-Read 15/7/1891, effects £126.

T71/899 Barbados nos. 4943 and 4944, where he is described as 'Hon. John O. Crewe'.

1. The will of the Rt. Hon. John Baron Crewe does not appear to be indexed in the Probate records online at TNA, but is on Ancestry.com, England and Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858 [database online]. The respective family wills for the Walker/Hungerford family are at: PROB 11/1630/364 (Henrietta Maria Anne Crewe); PROB 11/1121/82 (George Walker the father) and PROB 11/1718/9 (George Walker the son). There is ambiguity in the sources as to whether Henrietta Maria Anne Hungerford was in fact the daughter of George Walker or his grand-daughter. Hughes-Queree shows her as the grand-daughter, the daughter of Henrietta Maria Ann Walker. However, Henrietta Maria Ann Walker appears in a codicil to George Walker the elder's will dated 1783 as unmarried. For Henrietta Maria Ann Walker to have a daughter of marriageable age by 1807, she herself would have had to marry by 1790-1, and no record has yet been found for her marriage to a man named Hungerford. In the will of George Walker the younger, made in 1793 (although administration was not granted until 1826), he described his sister as Henrietta Maria Ann Hungerford, but makes no reference to a husband (or daughter). In the grant of administration, Hon. John Crewe was described as the lawful husband and administrator of the Hon Henrietta Maria Anne 'in the will written Ann Crewe heretofore Hungerford deceased while living the sister of the half-blood, one of the executors and the residuary legatee.'

2. TNA Chancery Pleadings C16/406/D36 Davies v Read. Cheshire and Chester Archives and Local Studies Service, Hinck''s Family of Chester. DHINCKS/740-808, 740 Substance of settlement made on the marriage of John Offley Crewe Esq. With Miss Lake 3 August 1818. Genealogical sources suggest that 'Miss Lake' was Charlotte Prestwood Lake, daughter of Admiral Willoughby Thomas Lake: no marriage record has yet been found; London Gazette, Issue 19369, 29/03/1836 p. 584. Will of Rev. Offley Crewe Clerk of Muxton otherwise Muccleston Staffordshire proved 04/06/1836, PROB 11/1862. Will of Bagot Read of Chester proved 07/01/1817, PROB 11/1588; National Probate Calendar 1891.