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,[1][2] he was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford.[3] He was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1840 and of the Royal Society in 1841.[3][4]
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.[1] In 1871, he was the fifth greatest landowner in Cheshire, with a total of 10,148 acres (4,107 ha).[5] At his death in 1894, the total rents were estimated at £37,000 per year.[1] He appears to have been a relatively benevolent landlord, rebuilding farms, providing cottages and endowing schools.[1] In 1866, he paid more compensation to tenant farmers whose herds were affected by the cattle plague outbreak than was required by law.[6] 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.[1]
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.[7]
Lord Crewe commissioned Edward Blore to make alterations to Crewe Hall (1837–42). These included major changes to the plan of the building, redecoration of the interior in a Jacobethan style more sympathetic to the original Jacobean house, and modernisations including the installation of a warm-air heating system. Blore also added a centrepiece and clocktower to the stables quadrangle and built a gate lodge. The total cost of the works was £30,000.[8][9][10][11]
A fire gutted the main hall in January 1866.[12] Extensive restoration work was carried out for Lord Crewe by E. M. Barry, son of Sir Charles Barry, the architect of the Palace of Westminster (1866–70).[8][9][10] Barry added a tower to the west wing; required for water storage, the tower was intended to unite the east and west wings of the hall. He also reorganised the plan of the ground floor.[8] The gardens were redesigned after the fire by W. A. Nesfield, and his son William Eden Nesfield also designed various estate buildings.[10]
Lord Crewe died of influenza at Crewe Hall in 1894. He never married and the barony became extinct on his death.[1] His estates were inherited by his nephew, Robert Milnes, Baron Houghton, later Earl and Marquess of Crewe, son of his sister Annabella Hungerford Crewe.[13]