| Administrative History | George Harpur, later Crewe (1795-1844), 8th Baronet, was born and baptised at Calke, son of Henry and Nanette (Nanny) Harpur. He was educated under the tutorship of the Rev. John Henry Michell, rector of Buckland, Hertfordshire, then c1806-1813 at Rugby School. He was married at Mendham, Suffolk, in 1819, to Jane Whitaker, (daughter of the Rev. Thomas Whitaker), by whom he had four sons and four daughters. He served as an officer in the Derbyshire Yeomanry, initially with the Calke Troop and later with the Repton and Gresley Troop. He was a Justice of the Peace and in 1821 served as High Sheriff of Derbyshire. He was a candidate for Parliamentary election in 1831, but withdrew, but then served as MP for South Derbyshire 1835-1841 (see D73/37; D3287/61/22 and D466 Z/Z 1-2). He and his family maintained homes in Suffolk: at Yoxford Grove and later at Tattingstone Place.
Information about George Crewe's agricultural interests and practice is available from evidence given in 1833 to the Select Committee on Agriculture by William Smith, long-serving agent of George Crewe: Report From The Select Committee On Agriculture With the Minutes of Evidence Taken Before Them: 1833: pp 587-604: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Report_from_the_Select_Committee_on_Agriculture?id=gypDAAAAcAAJ George Crewe died at Calke in 1844 and is buried there. There are family portraits at Calke Abbey.
Jane Crewe, nee Whitaker, was born c1798, in Syleham, Suffolk. Following her husband's death in 1844, Jane Crewe lived in London with her daughters Isabel Jane and Mary Adeline, at 17 Southwick Crescent, Marylebone and ultimately at 13 Queens Gate Gardens, Kensington, where she died in 1880. A letter written by Jane Crewe from Southwick Crescent is at the Warwickshire Record Office. A copy of Jane Crewe's will from 1845 is held at Derbyshire Record Office (reference D6910/11/1). Jane Crewe's will was proved at the Principal Probate Registry in 1880; a document relating to Succession Duty on her estate is at D769/B/8A/105/3. |