John Crawley

John Crawley (26 April 1703 – 9 September 1767) was an English landowner and politician. Early life Crawley was born on 26 April 1703 in an old Luton family. He was the eldest son of Sarah ( Dashwood) Crawley, and Richard Crawley, Registrar of the Admiralty and MP for Wendover. Among his siblings were Sarah Crawley and Samuel Crawley, British consul in Smyrna. His maternal grandparents were Anne ( Smith) Dashwood (a daughter of John Smith of Tedworth and sister to John Smith, Chancellor of the Exchequer) and Sir Samuel Dashwood, Lord Mayor of London and MP for the City of London. His paternal grandparents were Mary ( Clutterbuck) Crawley (a daughter of London merchant Richard Clutterbuck) and Francis Crawley of Northaw, Baron of the Exchequer (son of Sir Francis Crawley, who was appointed Justice of the Common Pleas by the king in 1632, but was disabled by Parliament). Career He succeeded to his father's estates in 1712. He was High Sheriff of Bedfordshire from 1735 to 1737. In 1740, Crawley built Stockwood House in Luton, which his father bought in 1708.