William Crawshay I

Who was William Crawshay I?

William Crawshay was a South Wales industrialist.

The son of Richard Crawshay, he took over the Cyfarthfa Ironworks from his father, but it was never his primary concern, and he continued to live in London, where he took charge of the company's selling agency. He already had trading interests in India and had only taken a role in the business because of the death of his elder brother. After his father's death in 1810, he left the running of the works mostly in the hands of his own son, William Crawshay II, and died at Stoke Newington aged 70, leaving a fortune of £700,000. William Crawshay the elder was the brother-in-law of the ironmaster Benjamin Hall, who married his sister Charlotte.