Nathaniel Crew, 3rd Baron Crew

Who was Nathaniel Crew, 3rd Baron Crew?

Nathaniel Crew, 3rd Baron Crew was Bishop of Oxford from 1671 to 1674, then Bishop of Durham from 1674 to 1721. As such he was one of the longest serving bishops of the Church of England.

Crew was the son of John Crew, 1st Baron Crew and a grandson of Sir Thomas Crewe, Speaker of the House of Commons. He was educated at Lincoln College, Oxford and appointed Rector of the college in 1668. He became dean and precentor of Chichester in 1669, Clerk of the Closet to Charles II shortly afterwards, Bishop of Oxford in 1671 and Bishop of Durham in 1674. He owed his rapid promotions to James, then Duke of York, whose favour he had gained by secretly encouraging the duke's interest in the Roman Catholic Church.

After the accession of James II in 1685 Crew was also appointed dean of the Chapel Royal. He was part of the ecclesiastical commission of 1686, which suspended Henry Compton, Bishop of London and Crew shared the administration of the see of London with Thomas Sprat, Bishop of Rochester. On the decline of King James's power, Crew dissociated himself from the court, and made a bid for the favour of William III's new government by voting for the motion that James had abdicated. He was excepted from the general pardon of 1690, but afterwards was allowed to retain his see.