Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 13.djvu/90

Crewdson   CREWDSON, JANE (1808–1863), poetess, was born at Perran-arworthal, Cornwall, on 22 Oct. 1808, being the second daughter of George Fox of that place, and was married at Exeter, in October 1836, to Thomas Dillworth Crewdson, a Manchester manufacturer. She contributed several hymns to Squire Lovell's 'Selection of Scriptural Poetry,' 1848; and in 1851 published a small volume of gracefully written poems, entitled 'Aunt Jane's Verses for Children,' which was reprinted in 1855 and 1871. In 1860 she issued a second work, 'Lays of the Reformation, and other Lyrics, scriptural and Miscellaneous.' After her death, on 14 Sept. 1863, at her residence, Summerlands, Whalley Range, Manchester, a further selection of her poetical pieces, betraying, like all her writings, a refined and deeply religious spirit, was published under the title of 'A Little While and other Poems' (Manchester, 1864, 12mo).

 CREWE, FRANCES ANNE, (d. 1818), daughter of  [q. v.], envoy extraordinary to the elector of Bavaria in 1766, one of the most beautiful women of her time, married, in 1776, (afterwards Lord) Crewe [q. v.] She was accustomed to entertain, at Crewe Hall, her husband's seat in Cheshire, and at her villa at Hampstead, some of the most distinguished of her contemporaries. Fox, who much admired her, Burke, Sheridan, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and Canning were frequent visitors. She was also on friendly terms with Dr. and Miss Burney and Mrs. Thrale. Sheridan dedicated the `School for Scandal' to her, and some lines addressed to her by Fox were printed at the Strawberry Hill Press in 1775. She died on 23 Dec. 1818. Three portraits by Reynolds have been engraved, in one of which she appears with her brother as Hebe and Cupid; and in another with Mrs. Bouverel.

 CREWE, JOHN, first of Crewe (1742–1829), eldest son of John Crewe, M.P. for Cheshire 1734-52 (grandson of John Offley, who assumed the name of Crewe on marrying into the family), by Anne, daughter of Richard Shuttleworth of Gospworth, Lancashire, was born in 1742 and educated under Dr. Hinchliffe (afterwards bishop of Peterborough) and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He left the university without graduating, and after making the grand tour returned to England to reside on his estates. He was sheriff of Cheshire in 1764, was returned to parliament for Stafford in 1765, and for Cheshire in 1768, which he continued to represent till the close of the century. He seldom spoke in the house, but gave a steady support to the whig party, and in 1782 carried a bill for disfranchising officers of the excise and customs. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Crewe of Crewe in 1806. He was an enlightened agriculturist and a good landlord. He died on 28 April 1829. Crewe married in 1776 Frances Anne [q.v.], only daughter of Fulke Greville.

[Hinchliffe's Barthomley, pp. 306-10; Ormerod's Cheshire, ed. Helsby. iii. 314; Parl. Hist. xxi. 403, xxii. 1335-9; Wraxall's Hist. Mem. iii. 47.]  CREYGHTON. [See .]  CRIBB, TOM (1781–1848), champion pugilist, was born at Hanham in the parish of Bitton, Gloucestershire, on 8 July 1781, and coming to London at the age of thirteen followed the trade of a bellhanger, then became a porter at the public wharves, and was afterwards a sailor. From the fact of his having worked as a coal porter he became known as the 'Black Diamond,' and under this appellation he fought his first public battle against George Maddox at Wood Green on 7 Jan. 1805, when after seventy-six rounds he was proclaimed the victor, and received much praise for his coolness and temper under very unfair treatment. On 20 July he was matched with George Nicholls, when he experienced his first and last defeat. The system of milling on the retreat which Cribb had hitherto practised with so much success in this instance failed, and at the conclusion of the fifty-second round he was so much exhausted that he was unable to fight any longer. In 1807 he was introduced to Captain [q.v.], better known as Captain Barclay, who, quickly perceiving his natural good qualities, took him in hand, trained him under his own eye, and backed him for two hundred guineas against the famous Jem Belcher. In the contest on 8 April the fighting was so severe that both men were completely exhausted; but in the forty-first round Cribb was proclaimed the victor. His next engagement was with 