William Horatio Crawford facts for kids

William Horatio Crawford (born 1815, died 1888) was an important Irish businessman and a very generous person. He owned a brewery and used his wealth to help many cultural and educational places in Cork city.

William was especially interested in collecting books and art. He gave a lot of support to the art school in Cork, which was later named the Crawford School of Art in his honor. Today, many of the artworks he collected can be seen at the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork.

Who Was William Horatio Crawford?

His Early Life and Family

William Horatio Crawford was born in 1815. He was the first son of William Crawford and Dulcibella Crawford. His family lived in a place called Lakelands House in Blackrock, Cork. The Crawfords were originally from County Down in Ireland.

William's father was a co-owner of the famous Beamish and Crawford brewing company. This company was very big and important in Cork. In 1834, it paid a large part of the city's taxes and employed hundreds of people. William's father was also a kind person who helped fund the Cork School of Art and the Cork Savings Bank.

William Horatio Crawford went to Trinity College Dublin (TCD) in 1833 and finished his studies in 1837.

How He Helped His Community

For most of his life, William Horatio Crawford was involved with his family's brewing business. He and his partner, Richard P. Beamish, took control of the company in the 1850s. They spent a lot of money to update the brewery and buy more property in the city.

Even though he was part of the brewing business, it's said that William wasn't very interested in the day-to-day work. He used the large amount of money he earned from the brewery to support many important places in Cork. He gave money to churches, hospitals, and helped people in need privately.

William was good friends with William K. Sullivan, who was the president of Queen's College Cork (now University College Cork). William Crawford was a huge supporter of the college.

• He gave £1,000 to buy special equipment for an astronomical observatory, which was named the Crawford Observatory.
• He provided £2,750 to help build glasshouses for the college's botanic garden.
• In 1881, he gave £1,000 to help start a place for students to live. He also furnished the rooms.
• He even paid off over £3,000 in debts that the college couldn't repay.

Between 1876 and 1880, William also donated a very valuable collection of books to the college library. This library still has his name today. After he died, his own personal library, which had many rare books, was sold for a huge amount of money – more than any other Irish collection sold before!

Supporting Art and Gardens

William was also a big art collector. In 1884, he gave a lot of money to make the existing art school much bigger. The school buildings were then renamed the Crawford School of Art. The Prince of Wales officially opened the new school in April 1885. Later, in 1979, it became the Crawford Municipal Art Gallery.

William also had an amazing garden at his home, Lakelands. It was so special that it employed thirty workers and grew new types of tropical plants. Many of these plants were used to stock the botanic houses at the college. A rare tree called Magnolia campbellii, which usually grows in the Himalayas, even flowered in his garden for the first time in Britain or Ireland! He also supported farming and dairy schools in the area.

William Horatio Crawford never married. He passed away suddenly on October 18 or 19, 1888, at his home in Cork. Many people were sad about his death, and hundreds of mourners, including all his employees, attended his public funeral. His estate was worth a very large sum of money. After he died, Lakelands house was taken down.

Some of William Crawford's collections are now kept at the British Museum and the University of Leeds.