Crawford, Dr

Submitted by edpope on

16.4.1796 dr Crawford at miss Hays / 12.11.1796  Crawford there / 24.6.1804 Crawford at H Rowan's / 30.1.1805 again / 26.5.1807 call on Crawford, Seymour St / 29.11.1809 Crawford & mrs Boinville call / 19.4.1816 shop, Hepburn & Crawford / 24.10.1833 Crawford at Leicester Stanhope's

If Dr Crawford was a medical doctor he may have been John Crawford of Castle St Holborn who swore to the handwriting of Adair Crawford's will, February 1796. He was a brother of Adair Crawford, went to Baltimore 1796 and died in America in 1813 (see Dictionary of Irish Biography, entries for John, William & Alexander Crawford). Another possible was Adair's nephew Stewart Crawford who obtained his MD at Edinburgh in 1795 and was admitted Licentiate of the College of Physicians on 20.2.1796, the same day Adair Crawford's will was proved, On 19.11.1795 Dr Stewart Crawford was said to be in Ireland as one of two witnesses named by Thomas Erskine as material to the defence of William Stone for treason who could not attend till the next term, but the accounts of Stone's trial in January 1796 didn't mention either of those two witnesses being called (Stone's sister Eleanor was the wife of Stewart's uncle Adair).  Stewart's father William (DNB 1739/40-1800) was a Presbyterian minister and older brother of Adair Crawford, he had received the degree of DD from Glasgow University in 1784 and so was another possible Dr Crawford, like his brother Alexander, a medical doctor, who was in London to prove Adair Crawford's will on 20.2.1796. Stewart Crawford was appointed physician to the forces Sept 1799 and Deputy Inspector of Hospitals 1821. He was physician to Bath United hospital from 1805 to 1819 and died at Bath in 1847 aged about 70, his wife Eliza died there in 1815 aged 35 and he married in 1817 Caroline A'Court sister of William A'Court, Baron Heytesbury (DNB 1779-1860) The Dictionary of Irish Biography in two different articles makes Dr Stewart Crawford the son of Adair as well as of William Crawford but his age of 65 in the 1841 census suggests he was born 10 years before Adair married.

I cannot identify the Rev Dr Crawford who was presented to the King and the Prince of Wales by the Earl of Harrington in 1790, He doesn't appear in Oxford or Cambridge lists, or Glasgow ones unless he was the Presbyterian William Crawford (see above). Anyhow it seems unlikely the same person would be at Mary Hays' in 1796 

Linde Lunney (not verified)

Tue, 30/04/2013 - 16:43

My article on Adair Crawford in the Dictionary of Irish Biography contains the error about a son Stewart Crawford, which you spotted; I hope we will be able to correct it in the online version of the DIB. Unfortunately nothing to be done about the print version at the moment. The Crawfords of Ballytromery are a very interesting family; and clearly their connections were often with radicals. Stewart Crawford's father was not quite radical, liberal rather; but Stewart Crawford in Bath kept up an acquaintance with the famous William Drennan