Samuel Crawley

Samuel Crawley (16 December 1790 – 21 December 1852) was an English Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1818 and 1841.

Early life He was the son of Samuel Crawley, of Keysoe, and his wife, the heiress Eliza Rankin. His paternal grandparents were married Susannah ( Sambrooke) Crawley (a daughter of Sir Samuel Sambrooke, 3rd Baronet, of Bush Hill) and John Crawley, MP for Marlborough.

His mother was the daughter of Elizabeth Condon, sister of Charles Condon (died 1781), heir to the Ragnall estate in Nottinghamshire, who changed his name to Mellish. She was involved in litigation of the 1780s with her cousin Mary Mellish, for the possession of Ragnall Hall ("the defendant was niece to the deceased, and one of the principal parties in his will"). In an initial case at Nottingham Assizes in 1785, Mary Mellish was successful in her plea of trespass against Eliza Rankin. Two subsequent cases went the other way.

Crawley was educated at Eton College from 1805 to 1808 and then at Christ Church, Oxford where he matriculated in 1808. In 1815, he inherited the estate of Stockwood in Bedfordshire from his uncle John.

Career On 12 February 1817, Crawley was appointed High Sheriff of Bedfordshire. In 1818 he was elected Member of Parliament for Honiton, through the influence of a relative,

At the 1832 general election Crawley was elected MP for Bedford. In the 1837 election his opponent Henry Stuart was elected, but was unseated on petition in 1838. Crawley was reinstated and held the seat until 1841.

Personal life On 19 June 1817, Crawley married Theodosia Mary Vyner (d. 1820), daughter of Robert Vyner and the former Lady Theodosia Maria Ashburnham (youngest daughter of John Ashburnham, 2nd Earl of Ashburnham). Before her death, they were the parents of one daughter.

On 15 July 1822, he married his second wife, Maria Musgrave, granddaughter of Sir Philip Musgrave, 6th Baronet, by whom he had five sons and one daughter, including: