Henry Cruger

Henry Cruger, Jr. (November 22, 1739 – April 24, 1827) was an American and British merchant at the time of the American Revolution. He has a unique distinction of having been elected to both the Parliament of Great Britain (MP, 1774–1780, 1784–1790) and the New York State Senate (1792–1796).

Henry Cruger was born in New York a member of a wealthy merchant family originally from Germany: his grandfather John Cruger was an alderman and Mayor of New York City. His uncle John Cruger, Jr. was also a Mayor of New York City and was Speaker of the New York Assembly. Henry Cruger Sr., his father, was also a member of the New York Provincial Assembly and then the Governor-General's Council.

Cruger studied at King’s College (now Columbia University) in New York City, but before being graduated he moved to Bristol, England in 1757 where he was placed in a family mercantile house. In 1765 Cruger was elected to the Bristol Common Council, a position he held until 1790. He was named sheriff of the city for 1766–1767. Cruger was elected to Parliament for Bristol as a radical Whig in the election of 1774 in which British policy towards the colonies was an important issue. The other Whig candidate, also elected but by a smaller majority was Edmund Burke, who was, among other things, the provincial agent for the Province of New York.

In his maiden speech before Parliament, Cruger criticized it for worsening the breach between Britain and her colonies. In 1776, he faulted the ministry for abandoning British sympathizers in the colony of New York. In 1777, he supported the repeal of the Declaratory Act (1766), and by 1780, he favored American independence. Defeated for reelection in 1780, he became Bristol’s mayor in 1781. In 1784, Cruger was again returned to Parliament as the member for Bristol as a supporter of William Pitt the Younger. Throughout his political career in England he urged conciliation with America.

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