Crowley, Sir Ambrose

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Crowley, Sir Ambrose (1658–1713). Crowley was a remarkable industrial magnate. He came from a quaker family of Worcestershire and his ancestors were blacksmiths, moving up into iron production. Crowley was apprenticed in London and settled there, buying a large house at Greenwich. He built up an enormous iron enterprise, first establishing a foundry at Sunderland, where coal was cheap, transport to London quick, and the Tyneside shipbuilders needed nails. In 1691 he transferred his business to Winlaton, west of Newcastle, and later developed the lower Derwent valley. He was knighted in 1707 while sheriff of London and at his death had just been elected to Parliament for Andover. One daughter married Sir John Hind Cotton, 3rd baronet, of Cambridgeshire, and another Lord St John of Bletsoe.

J. A. Cannon

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Crowley

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