William Stuart Stirling-Crawfurd

William Stuart Stirling-Crawfurd (1819 – 23 February 1883) of Milton in Lanarkshire, Scotland, was a prominent racehorse owner. Origins He was the eldest son of Capt. William Stirling (1789–1826) of Milton and Castlemilk House, Rutherglen, both in Lanarkshire (now both suburbs of the City of Glasgow), 1st Dragoon Guards, who fought at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, by his first wife Mary Anderson (d. 1819), a daughter of John Anderson of London. His father married secondly to Anne Charlotte Gibson-Maitland, a daughter of Sir Alexander Gibson-Maitland, Baronet, by whom he had further issue one son, James Stirling Stirling-Stuart and one daughter Helen Maitland Stirling, the mother of the golf writer Harry Stirling Crawfurd Everard (1848–1909). Capt. William Stirling was the only son and heir of William Stirling, 13th Laird of Keir, Dunblane, in Perthshire and 9th Laird of Cawder, Bishopbriggs, Lanarkshire, by his wife Jean Stuart, youngest sister and heiress of Sir John Stuart, 5th Baronet (d.1797) of Milton and Castlemilk, (Stewart Baronets "of Castlemilk", created 1668) whose father the 4th Baronet briefly assumed the surname of Crawfurd on inheriting the estate of Milton, but dropped it on succeeding to the baronetcy on the death of his elder brother the 3rd Baronet. Career The estate of Milton, adjoining the then expanding city of Glasgow, which he had inherited from his father, was very valuable. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, during which time he became a well known figure in the local fox-hunts. In 1848 he won the Cesarewitch with The Cur. In 1850 he was elected a member of the Jockey Club, the regulating body of British horseracing. In 1859 he won the 1,000 Guineas with his mare Mayonnaise, trained by Tom Taylor, which won by 20 lengths, the widest winning margin ever. Her progeny however was disappointing.