Philip Champion de Crespigny

10th Oct 1765 - 23rd May 1851

Claimant or beneficiary

Biography

Awarded part of the compensation for Haddon estate in St Ann, and claimed as owner-in-fee for the Woodland estate in St Mary Jamaica, the compensation for which was recorded as paid to 'William Champion Crespigny', probably an error. While his path to ownership has not yet been traced with complete confidence, a document in Hampshire Record Office dated 13/11/1828 catalogued as 'Mortgage in fee of slaves resident on the Woodlands estate in the parish of St Anne [sic], Jamaica', between William Carter of Millwood Hampshire and Catherine Carter formerly Haynes [sic] and Philip Champion Crespigny of Harefield Middlesex strongly suggests that Philip Champion de Crespigny lent on mortgage against the enslaved people attached to both estates belonging to Catherine Carter formerly Hayne. The death at Jamaica in 1825 of the naval officer Augustus James de Crespigny, the son of Philip Champion de Crespigny's cousin Sir William Champion de Crespigny, appears unrelated to Philip Champion de Crespigny's compensation claims and awards.

  1. Philip Champion Crespigny, son of Phillip Champ: Crespigny and his wife Sarah, born 10/10/1765 and baptised in St George, Bloomsbury, 06/12/1765. His father was MP for Sudbury 1774-1775 and Aldeburgh 1780-1790; Philip senior died 01/01/1803 and was buried at St Swithin's Church, Walcot, Bath. His elder brother Thomas Champion Crespigny (1762-1799) was MP for Sudbury 1790-1796.

  2. Philip Crespigny was living at Harefield, Middlesex, in 1838. Commission of Lunacy in 1848 into Philip Champion Crespigny, 'aged 84, of Harefield House, Harefield, Middx, a gentleman possessed of freeholds in the counties of Norfolk and Middx, and also funded property, the whole of a value of nearly £10,000 a year.'

  3. Eliza (d. 1831), the daughter of Philip Champion de Crespigny (d. 1803), married 1804 Sir Richard Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Vivian, MP and heir of a Cornish copper smelting fortune. She was the half-sister of the Philip Champion de Crespigny of the award.

  4. In 1851 Philip Champion Crespegny [sic] widower aged 85 'Landed Proprietor' born Burwood Surrey 'Lunatic' was living with the family of his [half] brother Charles Fox Champion Crespigny at Harefield. Charles Fox Champion Crespigny (born c. 1785) was the third son of Philip Champion de Crespigny of Aldeburgh Suffolk.  

  5. Memorial inscription at St Mary the Virgin, Harefield: "IN MEMORY OF / PHILIP CHAMPION CRESPIGNY ESQ. / WHO DIED ON THE 23RD OF MAY 1851 / IN THE 86TH YEAR OF HIS AGE / ALSO IN MEMORY OF HIS BROTHER - / GEORGE CHAMPION CRESPIGNY MAJOR OF THE / LIGHT INFANTRY WHO DIED AT THE HEAD OF HIS REGIMENT / ........ ENGAGEMENT WITH ........ OF THE FRENCH ARMY / 30TH JULY .... / .... 26TH YEAR OF HIS AGE ..... (rest unreadable)". Will of Philip Champion otherwise Philip Crespigny of Harefield proved 9/7/1851.


Sources

T71/857 St Ann no. 119; T71/856 St Mary no. 388. T71/1593 letter to Philip Champion Crespigny Harefield nr Uxbridge certificate of award. Letter 27/12/1835 from Philip Champion Crespigny Harefield: I called at your office, 'and having filled up and signed a paper given to me', was expecting an authority to be sent to me: where is it? Woodland estate does not appear in the Jamaica Almanacs for St Mary in 1828, 1829,1832, 1833 or 1838.  In 1826 Woodlands appears separately against E.D. Smith, Olivia Tharp and James T. B. Watt; Hampshire Record Office 39A01/1.

  1. Ancestry.com, London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 [database online]; History of Parliament Online, https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/crespigny-philip-champion-1803 [accessed 07/07/2020]; St Swithin's Church, Walcot, Internal Monuments, https://www.batharchives.co.uk/sites/bath_record_office/files/STS%20Internal%20Monuments.pdf [accessed 07/07/2020]; History of Parliament Online https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/crespigny-thomas-champion-1762-99 [accessed 07/07/2020].

  2. Ancestry.com, UK, Poll Books and Electoral Registers, 1538-1893 [database online]; Times 09/12/1848 p.7.

  3. William D. Rubinstein, Who were the rich? A biographical dictionary of British wealth-holders Volume Two 1840-1859 (MS) reference 1843/4 Sir Richard Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Vivian.

  4. 1851 census online; Ancestry.com, Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900 [database online], entry for Charles [James] Fox Champion Crespigny or De Crespigny.

  5. Findmypast.co.uk, Middlesex Monumental Inscriptions [database online]; PROB 11/2135.

We are grateful to Stephen Bird for his assistance with compiling this entry.


Further Information

Absentee?
British/Irish
Spouse
Married but no further details
Occupation
Landowner

Associated Claims (2)

£1,712 12s 7d
Awardee
£452 5s 7d
Awardee

Associated Estates (3)

The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. Here is a key to explain those letter codes:

  • SD - Association Start Date
  • SY - Association Start Year
  • EA - Earliest Known Association
  • ED - Association End Date
  • EY - Association End Year
  • LA - Latest Known Association
1828 [SY] - → Mortgage Holder

Philip Champion Crespigny was shown under a mortgage deed for Woodlands in St Ann [sic] in 1828. This mortgage probably also covered the enslaved people on Haddons.

1834 [EA] - 1834 [LA] → Owner
1828 [SY] - → Mortgage Holder

Addresses (1)

Harefield House, Harefield, Middlesex, South-east England, England