Vauncey Harpur-Crewe

Who was Vauncey Harpur-Crewe?

Sir Vauncey Harpur Crewe, 10th Baronet was a British baronet.

Sir Vauncey served as High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1900 but apart from this position he played no part in public life. He was seen as something of an Altruistic Monocrat, mixing great thoughtfulness and generosity towards his tenants and employees at his two seats - Calke Abbey in Derbyshire and Warslow-Longnor in Staffordshire - with a disarming degree of aloofness and arbitrary behaviour towards his own family.

His communications with his children could be extremely strained, so much so that it was not uncommon for him to communicate with them by letter delivered by a footman. He was seen as particularly tyrannical toward his daughters. "The Misses Crewe", he was noted to say, "do not marry", and when in due course, they did, he was very displeased. One of his daughters, Airmyne, was banished from Calke Abbey for smoking a cigarette - a ban imposed on all of his household for fear of fire. She never returned to Calke during his lifetime.

After abdicating his social responsibilities Sir Vauncey concentrated on building up his enormous collection of stuffed birds, bird's eggs and Lepidoptera. His collection included birds shot by himself and also rare or abnormally coloured specimens bought from dealers and taxidermists. By the time of Sir Vauncey's death, the taxidermy collection numbered several thousand cases. Although some of this was subsequently sold to meet heavy death duties, much remained at Calke, only coming to light sixty years later.