Hungerford Crewe, 3rd Baron Crewe

Hungerford Crewe, 3rd Baron Crewe FSA, FRS (10 August 1812 – 3 January 1894) was an English landowner and peer.

The son of John Crewe, 2nd Baron Crewe, an army general, and Henrietta Maria Anna Walker-Hungerford, he was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford. He was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1840 and of the Royal Society in 1841.

On his father's death in 1835, he became the third Baron Crewe and inherited the Jacobean mansion of Crewe Hall in Cheshire, together with a large estate in Cheshire, Staffordshire and Leicestershire. In 1871, he was the fifth greatest landowner in Cheshire, with a total of 10,148 acres (4,107 ha). At his death in 1894, the total rents were estimated at £37,000 per year. He appears to have been a relatively benevolent landlord, rebuilding farms, providing cottages and endowing schools. In 1866, he paid more compensation to tenant farmers whose herds were affected by the cattle plague outbreak than was required by law. He also made many charitable gifts, for example in Sandbach where he donated his income as lord of the manor to the local board, gave land for a town and market hall, and erected a drinking fountain.

It was a period of rapid change: when he inherited the estate, the area to the west of Crewe Hall park was countryside with scattered farms; by his death it was occupied by the major railway centre of Crewe. He unsuccessfully opposed the construction of a Silverdale and Madeley Railway Company line from Newcastle-under-Lyme to Wrexham, which passed through the Crewe estate.

...
Wikipedia