Creweian Oration
| Nathaniel 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 posts |
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 | 1671 |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
31 January 1633 Steane, Northamptonshire, England |
| Died | 1 November 1721 (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 (neé Waldegrave) |
| Spouse | 1. Penelope (m. 1691–1699) 2. Dorothy (m. 1700–1715) |
| Children | none |
| Alma mater | Lincoln College, Oxford |
Nathaniel Crew, 3rd Baron Crew (31 January 1633 – 1 November 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 the Glorious Revolution of December 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.
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