Historical Manuscripts Commission

Summary report on the papers

of

Arthur Stafford Crawley (1876-1948),
canon of Windsor

and

Anstice Katharine Crawley (1881-1963)

in the muniments of

St George's Chapel, Windsor

(reference: GB-0260-M.126)

S Roberts, November 1996
 Historical Manuscripts Commission

Table of Contents

Access

Introduction 

Summary report

Index to writers of letters

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Access

Enquiries regarding these papers should be addressed to the Archivist and Librarian, St George's Chapel Windsor. References should be quoted in the form: M.126/A/1.

Introduction

Arthur Stafford Crawley was the youngest son of a successful railway contractor, George Baden Crawley (1833-1879) and his wife Inez (who married as her second husband Rear-Admiral JE Pringle). He was educated at Harrow and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he gained a reputation as a cricketer and athlete. Many of his friends from school and university are represented in his surviving correspondence. While at Magdalen, Stafford Crawley came under the influence of Cosmo Gordon Lang, who encouraged him to consider taking holy orders (a course in which he was strongly supported by his mother, Mrs Pringle). After a tour of India during 1899 and 1900, he studied for the priesthood at Cuddesdon Theological College. He held assistant curacies in Lang's diocese of Stepney (1901-03) and in Chelsea (1903-05), and was then presented to the vicarage of Benenden, Kent, by Lord Cranbrook, one of whose granddaughters was the wife of his brother Ernest. By this date Stafford Crawley was a husband and father, having married in June 1903 Anstice Gibbs (usually known as Nancy), sixth of the ten children of Antony and Janet Gibbs of Tyntesfield, Somerset. Their eldest son Cosmo was born in May 1904, and was followed during the next nine years by two further sons and two daughters.

The Crawleys left Benenden in 1910, when Stafford Crawley took up an offer from Lang, now archbishop of York, of a chaplaincy and the living of Bishopthorpe. He retained both appointments until 1918, but in 1915 volunteered for service as an army chaplain, and was posted to Flanders where he joined the Guards Division commanded by his brother-in-law the Earl of Cavan. In 1916 he was awarded the Military Cross (to which was later added a bar) for the rescue under fire of wounded soldiers. Stafford Crawley returned to civilian life in the autumn of 1917, and there followed a period during which he suffered serious doubts about his vocation, and considered resigning his orders. He was dissuaded from doing so, and served for six months during 1918 and 1919 as a chaplain with the British forces in Northern Italy, again under the command of Lord Cavan. He worked for the Church of England Men's Society between 1919 and 1922, and then returned briefly to a parish, being vicar of East Meon, Hampshire from 1922 to 1924; before once more migrating to York as Lang's chaplain and secretary to the diocesan board of finance. On Lang's translation to Canterbury in 1928, Stafford Crawley became assistant secretary to the Central Board of Finance, but the following year he moved to St Albans as diocesan secretary with an honorary canonry in the cathedral. He was appointed a canon of St George's Chapel, Windsor in 1934 and a chaplain-in-ordinary to King George VI in 1944, holding both offices until his sudden death on 8 October 1948.

Pen-portraits of Canon and Mrs Crawley will be found in Aidan Crawley, Leap before you look: a memoir, 1988. The genealogy of the Crawley family appears in Burke's Landed Gentry, 18th edition, volume III, 1972 (entry for Crawley of Quarry Hill, which however omits mention of Canon and Mrs Crawley's elder daughter Janet, Mrs Edward Woodall), and that of the Gibbs family in Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 105th edition, 1970 (entries for the Barons Aldenham and the Barons Wraxall).

The bulk of the papers of Canon and Mrs Crawley was presented to St George's Chapel in 1984 by their younger daughter Anstice, Lady Goodman and their second son Mr Aidan Crawley. Additional diaries were presented in 1995 by a grandson, Mr Charles Crawley. A large group of letters from Archbishop Lang to Canon and Mrs Crawley and to Lady Goodman was presented to Lambeth Palace Library (MS 3207) by Lady Goodman and Mr Aidan Crawley in 1983.

The Commission is most grateful to Dr Eileen Scarff, Archivist and Librarian to the Dean and Canons of St George's Chapel, for her assistance in the cataloguing of the Crawley papers and the compilation of this report.

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Summary report

Most undated or partially-dated letters in the Crawley papers have had dates pencilled on them. Many of these dates are understood to have been taken from the franks on envelopes that no longer form part of the collection.

A. Stafford Crawley : general correspondence (251 items)

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B. Stafford Crawley : letters from Anstice Crawley (559 items)

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C. Stafford Crawley : letters from Inez Pringle (246 items)

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D. Anstice Crawley : general correspondence (119 items)

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E. Anstice Crawley : letters from Stafford Crawley (117 items)

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F. Anstice Crawley : letters from Stafford Crawley while serving in the First World War (776 items)

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G. Stafford and Anstice Crawley : congratulations on the birth of Cosmo Crawley 1904 (43 items)

H. Stafford and Anstice Crawley : letters from their children 1910-29 (60 items)

I. Anstice Crawley : condolences on the death of Stafford Crawley 1948 (69 items)

J. Inez Pringle : letters from Stafford Crawley and others c1893-1913 (42 items)

K. Stafford and Anstice Crawley : diaries (53 volumes)

(a) Stafford Crawley

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(b) Anstice Crawley (see also 17. above)

L. Stafford Crawley : sermons and notes for sermons 1903-48 (128 items)

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M. Miscellanea (67 items)

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Index to writers of letters

ADAMS, W and M : I/34

AKERS, Alfred : A/219

ALDENHAM, 1st Baron : see Gibbs, HH

ASHBY, Mary : D/106

AUSTIN, May : A/125

BANKES, George Nugent, author : A/157

BARNES, Ronald Gorell, 3rd Baron Gorell : A/239

BEALE, Colin, secretary of the British Churches Film Council : I/65

BENNETT, Albinia Rose, sister of AKC : A/88, 210; D/107; G/15

BENNETT, Alexander Sykes, vicar of St Stephen, Bournemouth : G/40

BEVAN, Henry Edward James, rector of St Luke, Chelsea : A/116

BIRLEY, Oswald Hornby Joseph, painter : I/51

BOYD, William Grenville, resident chaplain to the archbishop of Canterbury : A/166; G/42

BOYLE, Reginald Courtenay, brother of the 12th Earl of Cork : A/112; G/17

BROWNE, FM, Roman Catholic military chaplain : A/231

BURROWS, Hedley Robert, dean of Hereford : I/41

BUTLER, Sir Nevile Montagu, civil servant : A/250

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CAMPBELL, Margaret, wife of John Campbell of Kilberry : A/60; G/33

CARDWELL, Hugh Brodie : A/26

CARTER, Effie : A/120; J/4

CARTER, Emmie W : J/18

CAVAN, 10th Earl and Countess of : see Lambart

CHARLES, Joan : I/48

CHITTENDEN, Thomas Hillier, physician : G/34

COKAYNE, Brien Ibrican, 1st Baron Cullen : G/27

COLLS, Percy Cooper, physician : A/169

COLSON, L : D/32

CRANBROOK, 1st Earl of, 2nd Earl of, and Countess of : see Gathorne-Hardy

CRAWLEY, Aidan Merivale, second son of ASC and AKC : H/16, 25, 27, 29, 31, 54

CRAWLEY, Anstice Katharine ['Nancy'], wife of ASC : B/1-559; D/8, 10, 11, 13, 14;

H/4, 5; J/41

CRAWLEY, (Arthur) Stafford, canon of Windsor : D/9; E/1-117; F/1-776; J/1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,

10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36,

37, 39, 42

CRAWLEY, (Beatrice) Anstice, younger daughter of ASC and AKC : H/37

CRAWLEY, Caroline, aunt of ASC : A/83

CRAWLEY, Cecily Frances, second wife of JK Crawley : A/143 enc; G/13, 35

CRAWLEY, Cosmo Stafford, eldest son of ASC and AKC : H/1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15,

18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 30, 32, 33, 34, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 52, 53,

56, 57, 58, 59, 60

CRAWLEY, Eustace, brother of ASC : A/5, 41, 42, 85, 104, 139, 150, 193, 197, 216;

D/5; G/16

CRAWLEY, Florinda Frances, first wife of JK Crawley : A/67

CRAWLEY, George Abraham, brother of ASC : A/90, 217; G/12

CRAWLEY, (Henry) Ernest, brother of ASC : A/214; C/22 enc; J/40

CRAWLEY, Janet Inez, elder daughter of ASC and AKC : H/11, 12, 17, 24, 26, 28, 35, 36,

38, 55

CRAWLEY, (John) Kenneth, brother of ASC : A/9, 33, 47, 63, 156, 160, 242; D/109; G/13

CRAWLEY, Kenneth Arnold Gibbs, youngest son of ASC and AKC : H/51

CRAWLEY, Leonard George, son of JK Crawley : I/19; M/32

CRAWLEY, Mary Alice ['May'], wife of GA Crawley : A/21, 27, 55, 75, 76, 79; J/16

CRAWLEY, Robert Francis, cousin of ASC : A/108

CRAWLEY, Sybil Inez, daughter of JK Crawley : A/143, 187

CRAWLEY, Wilhelmina, aunt of ASC : G/28

CULLEN, 1st Baron : see Cokayne

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DALTON, May, wife of the Revd AE Dalton : G/29

DAUBENY, Cyril James Brooke, lieutenant-colonel in the Essex Regiment : D/18, 96; G/41

DAVIDSON, Randall Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury : A/136

DAWSON (formerly Robinson), (George) Geoffrey, editor of The Times : A/107, 243

DOUGLASS, Frederick Wingfield, missionary in India : A/199

EDGCUMBE, Lilian Agnes, Countess of Mount Edgcumbe : I/39

EDGEDALE, Elaine Blanche, daughter of AH Gibbs : I/54

EDGEDALE, Mercy Maud, daughter of Elaine Edgedale : I/35

EDWARD VIII, King : D/64 enc

ELIZABETH, Queen of George VI : D/118

ELIZABETH II, Queen : I/18

ELLIOT & FRY LTD, photographers : A/240

ERSKINE, Sir Arthur Edward, colonel, equerry to King George VI : I/20

ERSKINE, Rosemary Freda, wife of Sir AE Erskine : I/21

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FAIRFAX, Bryan Charles, colonel : I/52

FLETCHER, Charles Robert Leslie, historian : A/48

FORD, Mary Catherine, wife of the Very Revd LGBJ Ford : D/111, 113

FRASER, Alastair Thomas Joseph, son of the 13th Baron Lovat : A/151, 154

FURSE, Michael Bolton, bishop of St Albans : A/105, 244, 245, 246

GATHORNE-HARDY, Cicely Marguerite Wilhelmina, Countess of Cranbrook : A/168

GATHORNE-HARDY, Lady Emily Blanche, daughter of the 1st Earl of Cranbrook : A/128,

165, 177, 185, 192, 195, 196, 202; D/37

GATHORNE-HARDY, Gathorne, 1st Earl of Cranbrook : A/130, 141

GATHORNE-HARDY, Lady Jane Ethel, daughter of the 2nd Earl of Cranbrook : A/179

GATHORNE-HARDY, John Stewart, 2nd Earl of Cranbrook : A/167, 176

GATHORNE-HARDY, Lady (Mary) Katharine, daughter of the 1st Earl of Cranbrook :

A/131, 163, 164, 178, 184, 190

GIBBS, Anstice Katharine : see Crawley

GIBBS, (Antony) Hubert, brother of AKC : A/94; D/62, 65, 70; G/1, 14; M/23

GIBBS, Beresford Norman, son of JS Gibbs : I/49

GIBBS, Edward Reginald, domestic chaplain to the archbishop of York : D/63, 99

GIBBS, Eustace Lyle, brother of AKC : D/50, 51, 54, 57

GIBBS, George Abraham, 1st Baron Wraxall, brother of AKC : A/97; D/35; G/3, 43

GIBBS, Henry Hucks, 1st Baron Aldenham : A/118

GIBBS, (Janet) Blanche, sister of AKC : A/95; D/12; G/2

GIBBS, Janet Louisa, mother of AKC : A/92, 96, 99, 121, 126, 127; D/19

GIBBS, John Arthur, second cousin of AKC : D/116,117

GIBBS, (John) Evelyn, brother of AKC : A/122; D/25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 103

GIBBS, John Stanley, son of WC Gibbs : G/18

GIBBS, Lancelot Merivale ['Lags'], brother of AKC : A/102, 221; D/39, 40, 42, 43, 44, 45,

46, 47, 48, 49, 52, 53, 55, 56, 58, 59, 60, 61, 64, 67, 68, 69, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77,

79, 80, 81, 82, 85, 87, 88, 89, 91, 94, 95, 98, 108; G/23; M/18, 19, 22, 25

GIBBS, (Mary) Mercy, wife of AH Gibbs : D/24

GIBBS, Ruby Mabel, wife of William Gibbs : D/104

GIBBS, Victoria Florence de Burgh ['Via'], wife of GA Gibbs : A/114; D/6

GIBBS, William, brother of AKC : A/181; D/1, 2, 3, 4, 92, 93, 102

GIBBS, William Cobham, rector of Clyst St George : G/4

GOODDEN, Maud Wyndham : G/5

GORE, Gerard Holmes, vicar of Broadwood Widger : I/2

GORELL, 3rd Baron : see Barnes

GOSCHEN, George Joachim, 2nd Viscount Goschen : A/149

GOWRIE, 1st Earl and Countess of : see Hore-Ruthven

GRAVES, Francis, journalist : I/63

GREEN-WILKINSON, Lumley Cecil, curate of Holy Innocents, Hammersmith : G/32

GWYNNE, Llewellyn Henry, deputy chaplain general : A/234

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HARE, Rachel, wife of the Revd CH Hare : I/47

HARTLEY, Grizel, wife of HHS Hartley, master at Eton College : I/22

HATTON, Christian C : I/3

HEADLAM, Sir Cuthbert Morley, Bt, MP : A/19, 65, 134, 142, 144, 145, 155, 161, 189,

222, 223, 225; D/78; I/42

HEADLAM, (Georgina) Beatrice, wife of Sir CM Headlam, younger sister of ASC : A/8, 10,

12, 15, 18, 23, 29, 34, 36, 39, 44, 45, 51, 52, 54, 57, 69, 89, 129, 159, 186, 198, 201,

203, 209, 211, 215, 220, 229; D/105; I/56; J/20

HEADLAM, Matilda Ann, mother of Sir CM Headlam : A/109, 175; G/19

HEDLEY, (Edward) Prescott, master at Eton College : I/43

HEWLETT, George Ernest, missionary in Korea : A/191, 194, 208, 218

HEYWOOD, Margaret Vere, wife of Major-General CP Heywood : A/227; D/101

HOLDSWORTH, Alice M, wife of Lt-Colonel GL Holdsworth : A/103

HOLLAND-MARTIN, Eleanor Mary : I/61

HOPKINSON, Philip Paget, chaplain at King Edward VII Hospital, Windsor : I/4

HORE-RUTHVEN, Alexander Gore Arkwright, 1st Earl of Gowrie : I/5

HORE-RUTHVEN, Zara, Countess of Gowrie : I/6, 7

HULBERT, Arthur Russell, commander RN, cousin of ASC : G/20

HUNTINGTON-WHITELEY, (John) Miles : I/66

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INGRAM, Charles Frederick, solicitor : A/170

INGRAM, Robert Anthony, headmaster of Farnborough School : D/97

JOHNSON, Stanley : I/23

JOHNSON, Walter : A/230

KAYE, Henry Wynyard, medical administrator : A/16

KILCOURSIE, Viscount and Viscountess : see Lambart

KOPPEL, Percy Alexander, barrister and civil servant : A/111; G/39

LAMBART, (Caroline) Inez, Viscountess Kilcoursie, Countess of Cavan, elder sister of ASC

: A/7, 11, 17, 24, 25, 30, 35, 38, 40, 46, 49, 53, 56, 62, 64, 74, 77, 93, 152, 158, 162, 188,

200, 204, 205; C/226 enc

LAMBART, Lady (Ellen) Olive, sister of Lord Cavan : A/50

LAMBART, Frederick Rudolph, Viscount Kilcoursie, 10th Earl of Cavan : A/14, 73, 212,

226, 228, 232, 235, 236, 237, 238; D/86, 90, 100; J/19; M/20, 21, 24, 26, 27, 28, 31

LAMBART, (Horace) Edward Samuel Sneade, brother of Lord Cavan : A/100

LANG, Norman Macleod, assistant bishop of Peterborough : I/8

LASCELLES, Joan, wife of Sir AF Lascelles : I/24

LLEWELLYN, Blanche : G/26

LOCH, E : G/30

LONDON LIBRARY : A/241

LONGMAN, Henry Kerr, captain in the Gordon Highlanders : A/213

LUBBOCK, Cecil, director of the Bank of England : I/60

LUBBOCK, Edith, wife of Cecil Lubbock : G/36

LYALL, Frank Frederick, Indian civil servant : A/70, 71, 110, 117

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MACDONALD, (James) Ramsay, statesman : A/247, 249

MACDONALD, (John) Ronald Moreton, historian : A/32, 43, 58, 98; C/25 enc; G/38

MACKINNON, M Lucy : G/21

MAITRA, Aunpam Chandra : M/17

MARTEN, Sir (Clarence) Henry Kennett, provost of Eton College : I/44

MAYHEW, Arnold, curate to ASC at Benenden : A/174

MAYNE, Alfred Simpkin, vicar of Appledore : I/25

McCULLAGH, William McKim Herbert, surgeon : I/45

McINTOSH, William, resident superintendent of works at Windsor Castle : I/9

MEDLEY, John Bacon, chaplain to the Gibbs family at Tyntesfield : A/147, 148

MOBERLY, Robert Hamilton, bishop of Stepney : I/57

MONRO, Hector Francis, merchant : G/22

MOORE, Ralph Westwood, headmaster of Harrow School : I/50

MORSHEAD, Sir Owen Frederick, librarian of Windsor Castle : I/1

MOUNT EDGCUMBE, Countess of : see Edgcumbe

MURRAY, Sir John, publisher : I/46

MYLNE, Caroline C, wife of the Revd TW Mylne : A/101

NEVE, Herbert : A/171

NEVE, Maria : A/172

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OGLE, Philip Henry Douglas, vicar of Old Windsor : I/26

O'KEEFFE, JJ, major in the Royal Army Medical Corps : F/252 enc

OLLARD, Mary, wife of Canon SL Ollard : I/40

PAGET, Edward Catesby, grandson of Gertrude Paget : I/27

PAGET, Gertrude Fanny, mother-in-law of JK Crawley : C/36 enc

PARKER, Wilfrid, domestic chaplain to the archbishop of York : D/36

PARKER, Winifred M : I/58

PEABODY, Mary E : I/59

PELLY, (Raymond) Theodore, brigadier-general : I/62

PINCOFFS, R : A/173

PITT, Inez : G/24

PONSONBY, Maurice George Jesser, domestic chaplain to the archbishop of York : A/224;

D/66, 83, 84; M/30

PRIDMORE, Ella : I/10

PRINGLE, (Eliza) Inez, mother of ASC : C/1-246; D/7, 16, 17, 20, 22, 33, 34, 38; G/11

PRINGLE, John Eliot, rear-admiral, stepfather of ASC : A/2, 22, 78, 80, 82, 84, 86, 87, 91,

119, 137, 138, 140, 149a, 153; D/20; G/6

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RAWSTORNE, Richard Atherton, rector of Croston : I/36

RAWSTORNE, Robert Gwillym, vicar of Thornbury : I/53

REED, Maude EB : A/180

RIDGEWAY, Frederick Edward, bishop of Kensington : A/132

ROBINSON, (George) Geoffrey : see Dawson

ROE, Elizabeth, wife of WN Roe : I/12

ROE, (William) Nichols, master at Eton College : I/11

RUSS, Aubrey, master at St George's School, Windsor : I/13

RYMER, ME, governess to the children of ASC and AKC : B/414 enc

SCHMINKE, Anna M, former governess to AKC : D/41; G/8

SEARLE, Frederick Charles, assistant master at Harrow School : A/66, 106

SEYMOUR, Lady Katharine, woman of the bedchamber to the Queen : D/119

SHELFORD, Leonard McNeill, curate of St Luke, Chelsea : G/7

SHEPPARD, (Hugh) Richard Lawrie, dean of Canterbury : D/112

SMITH, JG : A/1

SPAIN, Arthur D, barrister in India : A/37

SPENCER, Kathleen : G/9

SPENCER, Lionel Dixon ['Bill'], captain in the King's Own Scottish Borderers : A/13, 146,

206, 207

SPENCER-CHURCHILL, Edward George, captain in the Grenadier Guards : A/6, 31, 59,

68, 81

STANDFAST, Henry Arthur Edwin, curate of St Dunstan, Stepney : G/37

STUDD, Edward Basil Turnour, indigo planter in India : A/28, 115; G/25

STYGALL, C : I/37

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TALBOT, Edward Keble, royal chaplain : I/28

UNION OF LONDON AND SMITH'S BANK LTD : D/23

VARATHANUNTHAJEE, Ry Vijiya : M/16

WEBB, Eglantine K : A/123

WELLDON, James Edward Cowell, headmaster of Harrow School, bishop of Calcutta : A/3,

4, 113

WELLS, Richard Busk Paterson, successor to ASC as vicar of Benenden : A/182

WHATMAN, A Mildred : A/72

WHITE, Ernest G : A/183

WIGRAM, Clive, 1st Baron Wigram : A/248, 251

WILLIAMS, Ray : D/115; I/38

WILLS, Freeman Crofts, vicar of St Agatha, Finsbury : A/133

WILMOT, Jonathan : I/29

WINNINGTON-INGRAM, Arthur Foley, bishop of London : A/135; G/31

WOODALL, Antony, grandson of ASC and AKC : I/67

WOODALL, Janet Inez : see Crawley

WOODALL, Juliet, granddaughter of ASC and AKC : I/55

WOOLGAR, Frank, private in the Coldstream Guards : A/233

WRAXALL, 1st Baron : see Gibbs, GA

WYATT, Vitruvius Partridge, vicar of St Leonard, Bedford : A/124.

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