- Nathaniel Crew, 3rd Baron Crew
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Nathanial Crew, 3rd Baron Crew (31 January 1633 – 1721) was Bishop of Oxford from 1671 to 1674, then Bishop of Durham from 1674 to 1721. As such he was one of the longest serving bishops of the Church of England.
Crew was the son of John Crew, 1st Baron Crew and a grandson of Sir Thomas Crew, Speaker of the House of Commons. He was educated at Lincoln College, Oxford and appointed Rector of the college in 1668. He became dean and precentor of Chichester in 1669, Clerk of the Closet to Charles II shortly afterwards, Bishop of Oxford in 1671 and Bishop of Durham in 1674. He owed his rapid promotions to James, then Duke of York, whose favour he had gained by secretly encouraging the duke's interest in the Roman Catholic Church.
After the accession of James II, Crew also received the deanery of the Chapel Royal. He was part of the ecclesiastical commission of 1686, which suspended Henry Compton, Bishop of London (for refusing to suspend John Sharp, then rector of St Giles's-in-the-Fields, whose anti-papal writings had rendered him obnoxious to the king) and Crew shared the administration of the see of London with Thomas Sprat, Bishop of Rochester. On the decline of King James's power, Crew dissociated himself from the court, and made a bid for the favour of William III's new government by voting for the motion that James had abdicated. He was excepted from the general pardon of 1690, but afterwards was allowed to retain his see.
He left large estates to be devoted to charitable ends, and his benefaction to Lincoln College and to Oxford University is commemorated in the annual Creweian Oration.[1] In 1697, Crew had succeeded his brother Thomas as 3rd Baron Crew, but the barony became extinct upon his death.
His tenure also saw the first two new parishes to be erected in England since the Reformation. These were at Stockton-on-Tees in 1712 and Sunderland. The Church of the Holy Trinity in Sunderland, now redundant, was the base for responsible local government in the growing port town for the first time since the Borough of Sunderland, created by the Bishops of Durham, was crushed by Oliver Cromwell in the English Civil War.
Crewe also furnished the chapel of Stene Park, Northamptonshire, of which he was owner.
References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Academic offices Preceded by
Paul HoodRector of Lincoln College, Oxford
1668–1672Succeeded by
Thomas MarshallChurch of England titles Preceded by
Walter BlandfordBishop of Oxford
1671–1674Succeeded by
Henry ComptonPreceded by
John CosinBishop of Durham
1674–1721Succeeded by
William TalbotHonorary titles Preceded by
In CommissionLord Lieutenant of Durham
1674–1689Succeeded by
The Viscount LumleyPreceded by
The Earl of ScarbroughVice-Admiral of Durham
1702–1710Succeeded by
The Earl of ScarbroughLord Lieutenant of Durham
1712–1714Peerage of England Preceded by
Thomas CrewBaron Crew
1697–1721Extinct Bishops of Oxford Early modern Robert King • Thomas Goldwell • Hugh Curwen • John Underhill • John Bridges • John Howson • Richard Corbet • John Bancroft • Robert Skinner • William Paul • Walter Blandford • The Lord Crew • Henry Compton • John Fell • Samuel Parker • Timothy Hall • John Hough • William Talbot • John Potter • Thomas Secker • John Hume • Robert Lowth • John Butler • Edward Smallwell • John Randolph
Late modern Charles Moss • William Jackson • Edward Legge • Charles Lloyd • Richard Bagot • Samuel Wilberforce • John Mackarness • William Stubbs • Francis Paget • Charles Gore • Hubert Burge • Thomas Strong • Kenneth Kirk • Harry Carpenter • Kenneth Woollcombe • Patrick Rodger • Richard Harries • John Pritchard
Categories:- 1633 births
- 1721 deaths
- Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford
- Barons in the Peerage of England
- Bishops of Oxford
- Bishops of Durham
- Fellows of Lincoln College, Oxford
- Lord-Lieutenants of Durham
- Ordained peers
- Rectors of Lincoln College, Oxford
- 17th-century Anglican bishops
- 18th-century Anglican bishops
- Deans of Chichester
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