Nathaniel Crew, 3rd Baron Crew

British bishop; (1633–1721)

The Right Reverend and Right Honourable The Lord Crew
Bishop of Durham
Oil painting of Crew as Bishop of Durham.
Diocese	Diocese of Durham
In office	1674–1721 (death)
Predecessor	John Cosin
Successor	William Talbot
Other post(s)	Dean of Chichester (1669–1671) Clerk of the Closet (1669–1688) Bishop of Oxford (1671–1674) Dean of the Chapel Royal (1685–1688)
Orders
Ordination	Lent 1665 (deacon & priest)
Consecration	2 July 1671 by Gilbert Sheldon
Personal details
Born	(1633-01-31)31 January 1633 Steane, Northamptonshire, England
Died	18 September 1721(1721-09-18) (aged 88) Steane, Northamptonshire, Great Britain
Buried	Steane Park, Northamptonshire
Nationality	English (later British)
Denomination	Anglican
Residence	Steane Park, Northamptonshire (inherited) Newbold Verdon, Leicestershire (inherited)
Parents	John Crew, 1st Baron Crew & Jemima (née Waldegrave)
Spouse	1. Penelope (m. 1691–1699) 2. Dorothy (m. 1700–1715)
Alma mater	Lincoln College, Oxford

Nathaniel Crew, 3rd Baron Crew (31 January 1633 – 18 September 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 Thomas Crewe, Speaker of the House of Commons. He was educated at Lincoln College, Oxford; ordained deacon and priest on the same day in Lent 1665; and appointed Rector of the college in 1668. He became dean and precentor of Chichester on 29 April 1669, Clerk of the Closet to Charles II shortly afterwards (holding that post until the Glorious Revolution in December 1688).

He was elected Bishop of Oxford in April 1671 and Bishop of Durham on 18 August 1674. He owed his rapid promotions to the Duke of York (later James VII & II), whose favour he had gained by secretly encouraging the duke's interest in the Roman Catholic Church. Crew baptised the Duke's daughter Princess Catherine in 1675 and was made a Privy Counsellor on 26 April 1676 He was present at the crucial Privy Council meeting in October 1678 where Titus Oates first revealed his great fabrication, the Popish Plot.

After the accession of James II, Crew was also appointed Dean of the Chapel Royal on 28 December 1685, staying in post until 1688. 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.

His tenure as Bishop of Durham 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.

From 1681 to 1688 Crew lived at 43 King Street, Covent Garden. He died in 1721. Crew had married twice: firstly to Penelope Frowde on 21 December 1691; then, after Penelope's death in 1699, secondly to Dorothy Forster on 23 July 1700. Dorothy died in 1715. In 1697, Crew succeeded his brother Thomas as the 3rd Baron Crew, but had no children and thus the barony became extinct upon his death.

Legacy

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.

His memory is also perpetuated in The Lord Crewe Arms Hotel at Blanchland, whose community Crew rebuilt. Crew bought the village in 1708 and on his death in 1721 it passed to his trust, which remains the landlord.

Crew also furnished the chapel of Steane Park, Northamptonshire, of which he was the owner (having inherited the Steane estate with the Crew barony).

Much vilified by the Whig school of historians, Crewe's contributions are now more fully appreciated. Samuel Pepys thought well of him, praising, in particular, his grave and decent manner of preaching:

Dr. Crew did make a very pretty, neat, sober, honest sermon; and delivered it very readily, decently, and gravely, beyond his years: so as I was exceedingly taken with it, and I believe the whole chappell, he being but young; but his manner of his delivery I do like exceedingly.
— The diary of Samuel Pepys, 3 April 1667

Styles and titles

1633–1661: Nathaniel Crew Esq.
1661–1665: The Honourable Nathaniel Crew
1665–1669: The Reverend and Honourable Nathaniel Crew
1669–1671: The Very Reverend and Honourable Nathaniel Crew
1671–1676: The Right Reverend and Honourable Nathaniel Crew
1676–1697: The Right Reverend and Right Honourable Nathaniel Crew
1697–1721: The Right Reverend and Right Honourable Lord Crew PC

References

^ "Crew , Nathaniel". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/6683. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
"Crewe, Nathaniel (1668–1721) (CCEd Person ID 61334)". The Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540–1835. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
Dictionary of National Biography, London, England: Oxford University Press 1921–22; Volume: 05; Page: 79
^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Crew, Nathaniel Crew, 3rd Baron". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 432.
Bucholz, R.O. Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Volume 11 (revised): Court Officers, 1660-1837 Accessed 8 September 2014 Archived 10 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine
Oxford Glossary Archived 29 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine. University of Oxford, UK.
Blanchland History Accessed 15 July 2014 Archived 17 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine.

Academic offices
Church of England titles
Preceded byPaul Hood	Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford 1668–1672	Succeeded byThomas Marshall
Preceded byJoseph Gulston	Dean of Chichester 1669 –1671	Succeeded byLambrocus Thomas
Preceded byWalter Blandford	Bishop of Oxford 1671–1674	Succeeded byHenry Compton
Preceded byJohn Cosin	Bishop of Durham 1674–1721	Succeeded byWilliam Talbot
Honorary titles
Preceded byin commission	Lord Lieutenant of Durham 1674–1689	Succeeded byRichard Lumley, 2nd Viscount Lumley (became Earl of Scarbrough)
Preceded byRichard Lumley, 1st Earl of Scarbrough	Vice-Admiral of Durham 1702–1710	Succeeded byRichard Lumley, 1st Earl of Scarbrough (again)
Preceded byRichard Lumley, 1st Earl of Scarbrough	Lord Lieutenant of Durham 1712–1714
Peerage of England
Preceded byThomas Crew	Baron Crew 1697–1721	Extinct

v t e Deans of Chichester
High Medieval	Odo Richard Matthew Richard John de Greneford Jordan de Meleburn Seffride Matthew de Chichester Nicholas de Aquila Seffride Simon de Perigord Walter Thomas de Lichfield Geoffrey Walter de Glocestria Thomas de Berghstede
Late Medieval	William de Grenefeld John de St Leophardo Henry de Garland Walter de Segrave William Lenn Roger de Freton Richard le Scrope William de Lullyngton John de Maydenhith John Haselee Henry Lovel Richard Talbot William Milton John Patten/Waynflete John Crutchere John Waynfleet John Cloos
Early modern	John Prychard Geoffrey Symson John Young William Fleshmonger Richard Caurden Giles Eyre Bartholomew Traheron Thomas Sampson William Pye Hugh Turnbull Richard Curteys Anthony Rushe Martin Culpepper William Thorne Francis Dee Richard Steward George Aglionby Bruno Ryves Joseph Henshaw Joseph Gulston Nathaniel Crew Thomas Lambrook George Stradling Francis Hawkins William Hayley Thomas Sherlock John Newey Thomas Hayley James Hargraves William Ashburnham Thomas Ball Charles Harward
Late modern	Combe Miller Christopher Bethell Samuel Slade George Chandler Walter Hook John Burgon Francis Pigou Richard Randall John Hannah Arthur Duncan Jones Walter Hussey Robert Holtby John Treadgold Nicholas Frayling Stephen Waine Edward Dowler

v t e Bishops of Oxford
Early modern	Robert King Thomas Goldwell Hugh Curwen John Underhill John Bridges John Howson Richard Corbet John Bancroft Robert Skinner Episcopacy abolished (Commonwealth) Robert Skinner William Paul Walter Blandford Nathaniel 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 vacancy (Colin Fletcher {acting}) Steven Croft

Bishops of Oxford

Early modern

Late modern

v t e Bishops of Durham
Bishops of Lindisfarne	Aidan Finan Colmán Tuda United to York Eata Cuthbert Eadberht Eadfrith Æthelwold Cynewulf Higbald Egbert Heathwred Ecgred Eanbert Eardulf
Bishops of Chester-le-Street	Eardulf Cutheard Tilred Wigred Uhtred Sexhelm Ealdred Ælfsige Aldhun
High Medieval Bishops of Durham	Aldhun Edmund Eadred Æthelric Æthelwine
High Medieval Bishops rulers of the County Palatine of Durham	Walcher William de St-Calais Ranulf Flambard Geoffrey Rufus William Cumin William of St. Barbara Hugh de Puiset Philip of Poitou Richard Poore John de Gray Morgan Richard Marsh William Scot Richard Poore Thomas de Melsonby Nicholas Farnham Walter of Kirkham Robert Stitchill Robert of Holy Island Antony Bek
Late Medieval Bishops rulers of the County Palatine of Durham	Richard Kellaw Lewis de Beaumont Richard de Bury Thomas Hatfield John Fordham Walter Skirlaw Thomas Langley Robert Neville Lawrence Booth William Dudley John Sherwood Richard Foxe
Early modern Bishops rulers of the County Palatine of Durham	William Senhouse Christopher Bainbridge Thomas Ruthall Thomas Wolsey Cuthbert Tunstall James Pilkington Richard Barnes Matthew Hutton Tobias Matthew William James Richard Neile George Montaigne John Howson Thomas Morton Episcopacy abolished (Commonwealth) John Cosin Nathaniel Crew William Talbot Edward Chandler Joseph Butler Richard Trevor John Egerton Thomas Thurlow Shute Barrington William Van Mildert
Late modern Bishops	Edward Maltby Charles Longley Henry Montagu Villiers Charles Baring J. B. Lightfoot Brooke Foss Westcott Handley Moule Hensley Henson Alwyn Williams Michael Ramsey Maurice Harland Ian Ramsey John Habgood David Jenkins Michael Turnbull N. T. Wright Justin Welby Paul Butler

v t e Deans of the Chapel Royal
Late Medieval	John de Wodeford John de Leek Thomas de Lynton John Boor Richard Kyngeston Richard Prentys Edmund Lacy Robert Gilbert Richard Praty John Croucher Robert Ayscogh William Say William Dudley John Gunthorpe William Chauntre Richard Hill Thomas Jane Richard Nikke Geoffrey Simeon
Early modern	William Atwater John Vesey Richard Sampson Thomas Thirlby George Carew James Montague Lancelot Andrewes William Laud Richard Steward Gilbert Sheldon George Morley Herbert Croft Walter Blandford Henry Compton Nathaniel Crew Henry Compton (again) John Robinson William Talbot Edmund Gibson

v t e Clerks of the Closet
17th century	Richard Neile William Juxon Matthew Wren Richard Steward Gilbert Sheldon John Earle John Dolben Walter Blandford Nathaniel Crew Thomas Sprat Sir Edward Petre John Tillotson Thomas Burnet John Montagu
18th century	William Graham Samuel Pratt Charles Trimnell Richard Willis Henry Egerton Joseph Butler John Gilbert John Thomas William Buller Richard Hurd
19th century	William Jackson George Pelham Robert Carr Edward Stanley John Graham Henry Philpott Randall Davidson
Since 1900	William Boyd Carpenter Hubert Burge Thomas Strong Cyril Garbett Percy Herbert Roger Wilson Gordon Fallows John Bickersteth John Waine Jonathan Bailey Christopher Hill James Newcome Richard Jackson

v t e Rectors of Lincoln College, Oxford
William Chamberleyn, 1429–34 John Beke, 1434–61 John Tristropp, 1461–79 George Strangways, 1480–8 William Bethome, 1488–93 Thomas Bank, 1493–1503 Thomas Drax, 1503–19 John Cottisford, 1519–39 Hugh Weston, 1539–56 Christopher Hargreaves, 1556–8 Henry Henshaw, 1558–60 Francis Babington, 1560–3 John Bridgewater, 1563–74 John Tatham, 1574–6 John Underhill, 1577–90 Richard Kilby, 1590–1620 Paul Hood, 1621–68 Nathaniel Crew, 1668–72 Thomas Marshall, 1672–85 Fitzherbert Adams, 1685–1719 John Morley, 1719–31 Euseby Isham, 1731–55 Richard Hutchins, 1755–81 Charles Mortimer, 1781–4 John Horner, 1784–92 Edward Tatham, 1792–1834 John Radford, 1834–51 James Thompson, 1851–60 Mark Pattison, 1861–84 William Walter Merry, 1884–1918 John Arthur Ruskin Munro, 1919–44 Keith Anderson Hope Murray, 1944– Walter Fraser Oakeshott, 1953-72 Burke Trend, 1973-83 Vivian Hubert Howard Green, 1983-87 Maurice Shock, 1987-94 Eric Anderson, 1994-2000 Paul Langford, 2000–12 Henry Woudhuysen, 2012–24 Nigel Clifford, 2024–

Rectors of Lincoln College, Oxford

William Chamberleyn, 1429–34
John Beke, 1434–61
John Tristropp, 1461–79
George Strangways, 1480–8
William Bethome, 1488–93
Thomas Bank, 1493–1503
Thomas Drax, 1503–19
John Cottisford, 1519–39
Hugh Weston, 1539–56
Christopher Hargreaves, 1556–8
Henry Henshaw, 1558–60
Francis Babington, 1560–3
John Bridgewater, 1563–74
John Tatham, 1574–6
John Underhill, 1577–90
Richard Kilby, 1590–1620
Paul Hood, 1621–68
Nathaniel Crew, 1668–72
Thomas Marshall, 1672–85
Fitzherbert Adams, 1685–1719
John Morley, 1719–31
Euseby Isham, 1731–55
Richard Hutchins, 1755–81
Charles Mortimer, 1781–4
John Horner, 1784–92
Edward Tatham, 1792–1834
John Radford, 1834–51
James Thompson, 1851–60
Mark Pattison, 1861–84
William Walter Merry, 1884–1918
John Arthur Ruskin Munro, 1919–44
Keith Anderson Hope Murray, 1944–
Walter Fraser Oakeshott, 1953-72
Burke Trend, 1973-83
Vivian Hubert Howard Green, 1983-87
Maurice Shock, 1987-94
Eric Anderson, 1994-2000
Paul Langford, 2000–12
Henry Woudhuysen, 2012–24
Nigel Clifford, 2024–

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