28/11/1843 James Coutts Crawford
the following children were born of this union:
James Dundas Crawford, b. at Admiralty, London 11 Nov 1850, died at Edinburgh
unmarried. Janet Crawford b. at Kintbury Vicarage, 8th Sept
1844. Died at Red Lodge, Cold Ash. Berks. m. 11th June 1873 John Armine Willis
(b. 1839, d. 21 Dec 1916), son of Dr. Sherlock Willis and had issue:
1. Janet Isabel Willis b. 20 Feb 1875, m. June 1909, Eric Blackwood Wright.
2. Katherine Emily Dundas Willis, b. 11 March and d. 15 Ap. 1876.
3. Olive Margaret Willis, b. 26 Oct 1878.
4. Dorothy Sibyl Willis, b. 11 June 1880.
1. Charles Armine Willis of the Soudan Civil Service, b. 18 March 1881, m. 26 Nov 1919
Clare, 5th d. of the Rt. Hon. the 1st baron Holm Patrick.
5. Evelyn Patience Willis b. 13 May 1884, m. Dec 1907 Charles Godfrey, Civil head of
Staff, Osborne Naval College etc.
James Coutts Crawford,
generally known as Coutts, was born at Overton, Strathaven, Lanarkshire,
Scotland, on 19 January 1817, the only son of Captain James Coutts Crawford, RN,
and his second wife, Jane Inglis. Educated at the Royal Naval College,
Portsmouth, he received the gold medal before joining the Prince Regent
in June 1831. He served on several ships on both coasts of South America and in
the Mediterranean as a midshipman. In 1836 he qualified as a sub-lieutenant, but
through lack of promotional prospects took his discharge the following year. He
was awarded the Royal Humane Society's honorary medallion in 1836 for rescuing
two seamen from drowning.
In 1838 Crawford sailed on the
Coromandel to Sydney where, accompanied by an overseer, he drove a herd
of cattle to Adelaide, one of the first to make the overland journey. He sailed
from Australia in November1839 on the Success , landing at Korohiwa,
Titahi Bay, New Zealand, and after visiting Kapiti and Mana islands walked to
Port Nicholson (Wellington). He visited Queen Charlotte Sound and French Pass,
returning to Port Nicholson just after the arrival of the first immigrant ships.
Early in March 1840 he returned to Sydney to purchase horses and cattle for a
property he had bought from the New Zealand Company. On Watts Peninsula, later
named Miramar, he established the Glendavar cattle farm. He also acquired land
in Auckland.
Crawford was active in local
affairs in Wellington. He seconded the motion asking for Governor William
Hobson's recall in 1841, and promoted the formation of a cattle company and an
association to consider ways of dressing flax for export. In 1841 he returned to
England, and on 29 November 1843 married Sophia Whitley Deans Dundas at Kintbury,
Berkshire. Returning to New Zealand in 1846, he developed his farm near
Wellington and constructed a tunnel, apparently the first in New Zealand, to
drain Burnham Water into Evans Bay. He explored Wairarapa with Charles Clifford
and Edward Stafford, and was present when Governor George Grey arrested Te
Rauparaha.
Crawford later returned to
England, where Sophia Crawford died in 1852, leaving two children. On 28 July
1857 he married Jessie Cruickshank McBarnet, at Forres, Elgin, Scotland, and
returned once more to New Zealand. He settled permanently in Wellington, where
he and Jessie Crawford raised three sons. He expanded his cattle farm, bought
land at Ahuriri, Wairarapa and the Hutt Valley, invested in mining companies in
New Zealand and Australia and was active in local affairs. Interested in
geology, he was appointed provincial geologist in 1861, and from 1862 to 1864,
in a search for mining potential and routes for road and rail communication,
explored the Wanganui and Rangitikei rivers, the central plateau as far as
Tokaanu, Northern Wairarapa and crossed the Tararua Range. His reports made a
significant contribution to the knowledge of the province.
Crawford held many official
positions. He was a member of the Legislative Council from 1859 to 1867, and was
appointed resident magistrate in 1864 and sheriff of Wellington in 1866, holding
both posts until his resignation in 1878. In 1864 he established and presided
over the Resident Magistrate and Warden's Court at Havelock in Pelorus Sound for
some months.
James Coutts Crawford
|
