William Craven, 1st Earl of Craven, 7th Baron Craven

Lieutenant-General William Craven, 1st Earl of Craven (28 September 1770 – 30 July 1825) was a British Army officer, courtier, and Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire.

Early life William Craven, 1st Earl of Craven, by Anne Mee née Foldsone. Craven was the eldest son of William Craven, 6th Baron Craven, and his wife Lady Elizabeth Berkeley. Among his siblings was Maria Craven (wife of William Molyneux, 2nd Earl of Sefton) and Arabella Craven (wife of General the Hon. Frederick St John). In 1780, after thirteen years of marriage, and reported affairs on both sides, his parents parted permanently. After the death of his father in 1791, his mother married Charles Alexander, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach. Charles' wife, Princess Frederica Caroline of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, also died earlier in 1791.

His paternal grandfather was the Rev. John Craven, brother of William Craven, 5th Baron Craven, who his father succeeded as Baron Craven in 1769. His maternal grandparents were Augustus Berkeley, 4th Earl of Berkeley and the former Elizabeth Drax (a daughter of Henry Drax).

He was commissioned into the 43rd (Monmouthshire) Regiment of Foot in 1793, and subsequently served with the 80th and commissioned as major in the 84th Regiments. In 1798, Craven was appointed aide-de-camp to King George III, serving until 1805. This was followed by active service in the Netherlands and the Mediterranean, ultimately achieving the rank of Lieutenant-general.

From 1819 until his death in 1825, Lord Craven served as Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire and was opposed to Catholic emancipation. Louisa was a daughter of John Brunton, a grocer who later became an actor and manager of the Norwich Theatre. She was one of seven sisters, several were actresses, one, Ann Brunton Merry married the poet and dilettante Robert Merry.

Together, they were the parents of: Hon. Frederick Keppel Craven (1812–1864), a prominent cricketer.

He died in July 1825, aged 54, and was succeeded in his titles by his son William.