William Horatio Crawford

William Horatio Crawford (1815–1888) was an Irish brewer and philanthropist. He was both a book collector and art collector, and contributed to the art school at the Cork School of Design, which became known as the Crawford School of Art in 1885. Much of the Crawford art collection is now held in the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork city.

Biography

Early life William Horatio Crawford was the first-born son of William Crawford (d. 1840), brewer, and Dulcibella Crawford (née Morris) of Lakelands House, Blackrock, Cork. The family was originally from County Down, related to the Crawfords of Crawfordsburn, and to William Sharman Crawford. William Crawford senior was joint owner of the Beamish and Crawford brewing company, founded by his grandfather; the firm paid one-eighth of the total rates in Cork City in 1834, and employed hundreds of men. In addition to other business interests, William Crawford senior was a philanthropist and helped fund the Cork School of Art and the Cork Savings Bank.

William Horatio Crawford entered Trinity College Dublin (TCD) on 1 July 1833, graduated BA in 1837, and entered King's Inns the same year. Crawford used the "vast wealth and income from the brewery" to contribute to the intellectual and cultural institutions of Cork, Though virtually nothing remains of Crawford's garden at Lakelands, at its height it employed thirty workers, produced new hybrids of subtropical plants, largely stocked the botanic houses at the college, and in his garden Magnolia campbellii, a tree otherwise native to the Himalayas, "flowered for the first time in Britain or Ireland".

Crawford was unmarried; his sudden death on the night of 18/19 October 1888 at his home in Cork was mourned, and his public funeral to Brooklodge graveyard was attended by hundreds of mourners, including all his employees. His estate was valued at £328,226. 19s. 9d., and administration was granted to his uncle.