Sir Thomas Crewe (or Crew) (1565 – 31 January 1634), of Stene, between Farthinghoe and

Brackley Brackley is a market town and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority area of Northamptonshire, England. It is on the borders with Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, east-southeast of Banbury, north-northeast of Oxford, and ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

, was an English Member of Parliament and lawyer, and served as

Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings. Systems that have such a position include: * Speaker of ...

from 1623 to 1625. He was a son of John Crewe and Alicia, a daughter Humphrey Manwaring of

Nantwich Nantwich ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture ...

. Crewe was a member of

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

, and a serjeant-at-law. He went to

Woodstock Palace Woodstock Palace was a royal residence in the English town of Woodstock, Oxfordshire. Henry I of England built a hunting lodge here and in 1129 he built of walls to create the first enclosed park, where lions and leopards were kept. The lodg ...

in September 1603, where the royal family had gone to avoid plague in London, and sent a letter of news and business to Mary Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury. The business concerned the marriage of her daughter

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

to the

Earl of Pembroke Earl of Pembroke is a title in the Peerage of England that was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title, which is associated with Pembroke, Pembrokeshire in West Wales, has been recreated ten times from its origin ...

. He entered Parliament in 1604 as Member for

Lichfield Lichfield () is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated south-east of the county town of Stafford, north-east of Walsall, north-west of ...

, and was later MP for

Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...

(1621–2),

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery and the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, Waterside Theatre. It is located in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wycombe and Milt ...

(1623–1625) and Gatton (1625). In 1621 he drew attention to himself by defying the

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

, declaring the liberties of Parliament to be "matters of inheritance". In 1623 he was knighted, and in the Parliament summoned that year (which first assembled in February 1624) he was elected Speaker; he served in that capacity in the two Parliaments known to history as the

Happy Parliament The 4th Parliament of King James I was the fourth and last Parliament of England of the reign of James I of England, summoned on 30 December 1623, sitting from 19 February 1624 to 29 May 1624, and thereafter kept out of session with repeated pro ...

and the Useless Parliament. In 1633, he was appointed a member of the ecclesiastical commission. He died the following year. Sir Thomas Crew married Temperance Bray, daughter of Reginald Bray and Hon. Anne Vaux, daughter of Thomas Vaux, 2nd Baron Vaux. Some of their children include: *

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

, followed him into Parliament, and was raised to the peerage as Baron Crew in 1661 for his role in bringing about the Restoration. * Patience, married to Sir John Curzon, 1st Baronet and had issue.John Burke. A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire, Volume 2, 1833
Google eBook
/ref> He lived at Stene, Northamptonshire, and died on 31 January 1633.

References

*''Concise Dictionary of National Biography'' (1930) *''Burke's Extinct Peerage'' (London: Henry Colburn & Richard Bentley, 1831

* Mark Noble (biographer), Mark Noble, ''Memoirs of several persons and families... allied to or descended from... the Protectorate-House of Cromwell'' (Birmingham: Pearson & Rollason, 1784

1565 births 1634 deaths Members of Gray's Inn People from Northamptonshire Members of the Parliament of England for Bere Alston Speakers of the House of Commons of England English MPs 1604–1611 English MPs 1621–1622 English MPs 1624–1625 English MPs 1625 {{1625-England-MP-stub