William was son of James CRAWFORD and Mabel JOHNSTON.

Twice married he had a total of twelve children with his first wife and fourteen with the second! However, many of them appear to have died young.

As a young man of 21, he was, in Oct 1778, apparently apprenticed to Messrs Johnstons and Canning, Clement Lane, London; apparently some sort of "House and Academy". (It is not known if this establishment had any connection with his mother's family)

Obviously a young man with a keen sense of business, he had returned to Cork by July 1779 and was actively 'courting' a business partnership with a merchant named Church. Having arranged a loan of £2000 through his brother-in-law James Alexander* (husband to his sister Anne), and with the financial guarantees of his 'brother' (probably the elder brother John who had inherited after the death of his father, James, in 1777) and his 'uncle Johnston' (his mother's only brother Arthur), by 1781 he was a partner in Messrs Church & Crawford, Cork.

*It appears that James Alexander, who became Earl Caledon, had the contacts to raise the money that William required. There was a connection with a business at Mary's Abbey, Dublin called William Alexander & Son and a Robert Alexander is mentioned in letters between James Alexander and William of Cork, as having left that business to become a banker.

There was also, possibly some sort of partnership between Willam and a man named Keating around 1785

During this period several letters were exchanged between William and his brother-in-law, James. In January 1782, James mentions William's "better-half" and in Feb 1783, there is mention of an 'addition to the family' Later in 1785 James refers to Mrs Crawford and the children. It is believed that William married Mary Bordman, his first wife in 1785.

NB. It should be noted that some records give Elizabeth COOKE as William's first wife and the year of his death as 1829. I have a photocopy of a hand written document by his son William, in which William states:

My dear Father departed this life on the 29th November 1834 aged 77 years and 4 months. He was twice married, first to my Mother Mary Bordman, who died in the latter part of the year 1797 and secondly to Mary Uniacke.

The final letter in 1788 relates to the Will of William's brother James who was in the Bengal Army. William's brother John was sole Exor. of the Will and William was bequeathed £12,000.

It may have been this influx of funds that prompted William to build his home at 'Lakelands' near Blackrock. Certainly up to now he had been residing in the South Mall, Cork, which, a century later was still in the family and the home of Arthur Frederick SHARMAN-CRAWFORD, until he inherited Lota Lodge.

In 1792, William became a founding member of the Beamish and Crawford Brewery together with William Beamish and two others, local brewers named Barrett and O'Brien, who did not remain partners for very long.

In 1799, after the death of Mary (Bordman), William married Mary Uniacke and they had a further six boys and eight girls. The youngest Louisa Alicia was to marry her first cousin once removed, Arthur Johnston SHARMAN-CRAWFORD, which is how the SHARMAN-CRAWFORD side of the family was introduced to Cork and to the Brewery.

Acknowledgements: Extracts/prints from the 'History of the Gallery' and information from Beamish and Crawford.