William Craven, 4th Earl of Craven

William George Robert Craven, 4th Earl of Craven OBE (16 December 1868 – 10 July 1921), styled Viscount Uffington from 1868 to 1883, was a British peer and Liberal politician.

Early life Craven was the eldest son of the George Craven, 3rd Earl of Craven (1841–1883), who served as Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire between 1881 and 1883, and his wife Hon. Evelyn Laura Barrington (1848–1924).

His father was the second son of nine children born to William Craven, 2nd Earl of Craven and Lady Emily Mary Grimston, herself the daughter of James Grimston, 1st Earl of Verulam. His grandfather also served as Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire from 1853 to 1856. His paternal aunt, Lady Elizabeth Craven, married Arthur Egerton, 3rd Earl of Wilton, and another, Lady Blanche Craven, married George Coventry, 9th Earl of Coventry, and another, Lady Beatrix Jane Craven, married George Cadogan, 5th Earl Cadogan. His mother was the second daughter of George Barrington, 7th Viscount Barrington, who was a Member of Parliament for Eye and served as Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard under Queen Victoria in the 1880s. His maternal aunt, Constance Mary Barrington, was married to Lawrence Palk, 2nd Baron Haldon.

Career

In 1883, at the age of fourteen, he succeeded his father as fourth Earl of Craven, the 5th Viscount Uffington, and the 10th Baron Craven of Hampsted Marshall. He was educated between 1882 and 1884 at Eton College in Eton near Windsor, England.

Personal life

On 18 April 1893, Lord Craven, then twenty-four years old, married sixteen-year-old Cornelia Martin (1877–1961) at Grace Church, New York City. Cornelia, who was the only daughter of Bradley Martin, a wealthy American banker, and his wife, Cornelia Sherman Martin, met Craven while her family was renting a Scottish highland estate, Balmacaan. The marriage brought him property in Mayfair and paid for the renovation of Coombe Abbey, his family estate in Warwickshire which got a new roof, structural repairs, and its first electric lights. Together, they were the parents of:

William Craven, 5th Earl of Craven (1897–1932), who married Mary Williamina George, daughter of William George OBE, Town Clerk of Invergordon, on 14 October 1916.

In 1921, whilst racing at Cowes Week, and although a strong swimmer, Lord Craven fell overboard from his yacht Sylvia off the Isle of Wight and drowned at age 52. His body was washed ashore on 12 July 1921. He was succeeded in his titles by his son, William, Viscount Uffington upon his death in 1921.

After his death, his widow sold Coombe Abbey to a builder named John Grey in 1923, and died in 1961.