James Croft

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For other people named James Croft, see James Croft (disambiguation).

Sir James Croft PC (c.1518 – 4 September 1590) was an English politician, who was Lord Deputy of Ireland, and MP for Herefordshire in the Parliament of England.

Life

He was born the second but eldest surviving son of Sir Richard Croft of Croft Castle and his second wife Catherine Herbert, daughter of Sir Richard Herbert of Herefordshire, inheriting the estate on his father's death in 1562.

He was elected eight times as knight of the shire (MP) for Herefordshire (1542, 1563, 1571, 1572,1584, 1586 and 1589) and knighted in 1547.[1]

During the Anglo-Scottish war of the

Colclough Baronets
.

Croft was all his life a double-dealer. He was imprisoned in the

Elizabeth after her accession.[3]

He was made governor of

James MacGill in 1559, and where he busied himself actively on behalf of the Scottish Protestants. Croft advised Knox and Master Robert Hamilton to return to Scotland, as the spies of Mary of Guise were active in England, and preachers so scarce in Scotland.[6] As a commander of English forces at the Siege of Leith in May 1560, he was suspected, probably with good reason, of treasonable correspondence with Mary of Guise, the Catholic regent of Scotland. The Duke of Norfolk blamed him for a failed assault on 7 May 1560, later writing, "I thought a man could not have gone nigher a traitor than Sir James, I pray God make him a good man."[7] For ten years he was out of public employment but in 1570 Elizabeth, who showed the greatest forbearance and favour to Sir James Croft, made him a privy councillor and controller of her household.[3]

He was one of the commissioners for the trial of

the duke of Parma in a complex scheme.[8] Croft established private relations with Parma, for which on his return he was sent to the Tower. He was released before the end of 1589, and died on 4 September 1590.[3] He was buried at Westminster Abbey.[1]

Family

Croft had married twice, firstly Alice, daughter of Richard Warnecombe of Ivington near Leominster and widow of William Wigmore of Shobdon with whom he had three sons (including Edward and James) and four daughters and secondly Catherine, the daughter of Edward Blount. His eldest son, Edward, was put on trial in 1589 on the curious charge of having contrived the death of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester by witchcraft, in revenge for the earl's supposed hostility to Sir James Croft. A younger son of Edward was Sir Herbert Croft, whose son Herbert Croft was Bishop of Hereford. Croft has many descendants, including his 13 great grandson Jack Cowey

References

  1. ^ a b History of Parliament CROFT, Sir James (c.1518–90) of Croft Castle, Herefordshire
  2. ^ Fullwell, Ulpian, The Flower of Fame, William Hoskins, London (1575), 59r.
  3. ^ a b c d  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Croft, Sir James". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 480.
  4. ^ Scottish Correspondence of Mary of Lorraine, SHS, (1927), 355–6.
  5. ^ Acts of the Privy Council, vol.4 (1892), xx, 210, 396: vol.5 (1892), 45, 91.
  6. ^ Knox, John, History of the Reformation, book 3, e.g., Lennox, Cuthbert ed., (1905), 193.
  7. ^ HMC Manuscripts of the Marquis of Salisbury at Hatfield House, vol. 1 (1883), 219–220, 241: cf. Haynes (1740).
  8. ^ Gray, Austin K. "Some Observations on Christopher Marlowe, Government Agent." PMLA, vol. 43, no. 3, 1928, pp. 682–700. JSTOR website Retrieved 8 May 2023.
Government offices
Preceded by Lord Deputy of Ireland
1551–1552 		Succeeded by
Lords Justices
Honorary titles
Preceded by Custos Rotulorum of Herefordshire
bef. 1573 – bef. 1577 		Succeeded by
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