Sir Francis Crane ( 1579 – c. 1636) was the founder of

Mortlake Tapestry Works The Mortlake Tapestry Works was established alongside the River Thames at Mortlake, then outside, but now on the edge of west London, in 1619 by Sir Francis Crane. It produced lighter, if vastly more expensive, decoration for rooms than the pre ...

Mortlake Mortlake is a suburban district of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames on the south bank of the River Thames between Kew and Barnes. Historically it was part of Surrey and until 1965 was in the Municipal Borough of Barnes. For many cen ...

on the south bank of the river

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

in South West London.

Biography

His parentage is obscure, but his family had close links to Cornwall, and both his sisters married Cornishmen. In April 1606 he had a grant for life of the office of

Clerk of the Parliaments The Clerk of the Parliaments is the chief clerk of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The position has existed since at least 1315, and duties include preparing the minutes of Lords proceedings, advising on proper parlia ...

, and was secretary to

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

when the latter was Prince of Wales. During his secretaryship, he was knighted at Coventry on 4 September 1617. The tapestry works at Mortlake almost ruined Crane, as it involved him in the considerable outlay of capital for an inadequate return, and in 1623 he was forced to appeal to the King,

James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) *James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) *James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu *James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...

for financial help. In that year Crane was making a suite of tapestries for Prince Charles. James I died in 1625 and Crane was given much more favourable terms by the new King,

, whose secretary he had been since 1617. He sat in the Parliaments of 1614 and 1621 as MP for Penryn and that of 1624 for Launceston. In 1629 the King gave him the Manor of

Stoke Bruerne Stoke Bruerne is a small village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England about north of Milton Keynes and south of Northampton. The civil parish population at the 2011 Census was 373. History Stoke Brue ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

, where he built Stoke Park, a fine

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

house, possibly with assistance from Inigo Jones. Building materials for Stoke Bruerne were brought from

Grafton Regis Grafton Regis is a village and civil parish in the south of the English county of Northamptonshire. The population of the civil parish (including Alderton) at the 2001 census was 152. This increased to 253 at the 2011 census. The village is ea ...

where Crane demolished a house built by Henry VIII. He was also appointed c. 1632 the Chancellor of the Order of the Garter. He died in Paris in 1636 after an operation for bladder stones and was buried at Woodrising in Norfolk, an estate he had purchased from Thomas Southwell.

Family

In 1618 Crane married Mary le Maire, daughter of David le Maire of Tournai, and widow of Henry Swinnerton, but had no issue.''HMC Downshire'', vol. 6 (London, 1995), p. 530. He inherited a considerable sum from Mary's brother Sir Peter le Maire, who died in 1631. A rumour that he had been pre-contracted to the Countess of Exeter, which circulated in 1618, was simply one of an extraordinary web of lies spread to damage the Countess by her enemy Lady Lake, wife of Sir

Thomas Lake Sir Thomas Lake PC (1567 – 17 September 1630) was Secretary of State to James I of England. He was a Member of Parliament between 1593 and 1626. Thomas Lake was baptised in Southampton on 11 October 1567, the son of Almeric Lake, a minor cus ...

. His brother and heir, Richard Crane, was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...

in 1643. He also left property to his niece Frances Bond. Most of the Crane estates eventually passed to the heirs of his sister Edith, who married Gregory Arundell of Sheviock.

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Crane, Francis 1570s births 1636 deaths 17th-century English businesspeople British weavers Businesspeople from London English knights English MPs 1614 English MPs 1621–1622 English MPs 1624–1625 History of Northamptonshire Members of the pre-1707 English Parliament for constituencies in Cornwall Mortlake, London Date of birth unknown Date of death unknown Place of birth unknown Place of death unknown Chancellors of the Order of the Garter

Biography

Family

See also

Notes

References