The Evolution of the Crathornes
1600 - 1900

The main Crathorne line at Crathorne Hall started with Sir William de Crathorne who was knighted in 1327, and ended with Maria Crathorne who died in 1844.  The story and family tree of these Crathornes is given in full - as far as we know - in the Yorkshire pages, starting with Sir William and including:

  • Francis Crathorne, born in 1595 who became a Benedictine Monk in France on the 29th of June 1621,

  • Thomas Anselm Crathorne, who graduated as a Doctor of Divinity at the Sorbonne, Paris, and died in Lambspring Abbey, Germany, on 4 March 1745/6,

  • Henry Crathorne, born in 1757, who visited China with the first British Envoy in 1792, and had two sons during his long-term relationship with a Mrs Campbell in London, leaving a large debt on the Crathorne estate on his death, and

  • Maria Crathorne, the last of the main Crathorne line, whose baptism in 1792 was sponsored by the future King George IV and his wife Mrs Fitzherbert.

Apart from this Main Crathorne line, many side branches developed over the years, particularly in the 1500s when several Crathorne marriages and births took place in scattered villages across south and east England, described in the Exodus page. 

From these beginnings arose a whole host of Crathorne 'tribes', some of which developed and thrived during the 1600s giving the basis of Crathornes, Craythornes, Creathorns and Cratherns alive today.  In the time charts below, the main line at Crathorne is shown as an orange oval on the left hand side, with the different Crathorne tribes branching off at different points in time.  

The Lincolnshire Crathornes were the first to be established in the early 1400s, followed by the London Crathornes in the late 1400s.  In the period 1500-1550 new tribes were set up in Warwickshire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire and Sussex, as well as other single marriages not recorded here.  Later tribes include those at Whitby from 1605 and around Beverley and Hull in Yorkshire from about 1640. 

These diagrams are still a work in progress as in many cases the precise family links are not yet known, but they show how the Crathornes evolved in the period 1600 to 1900, with several continuing to prosper well after the main line had ended and Crathorne Hall sold in 1844.  

By the mid-1800s the industrial revolution had revolutionised transport and Crathornes continued to spread throughout England, with several emigrating to the USA, Australia and New Zealand, shown on the Countries pages.  If you know of any errors or omissions please email us!

Click on each chart for a bigger version (loads in a separate tab).

 

Click on the 'Origins' tab above to go to the Genesis page showing how the Crathornes began. The 'Pre-1600' tab below goes to the Exodus page, showing how different lines of Crathornes spread across the country in the 1500s.  The 'Post-1900' tab shows maps of Crathornes at the 1881 and 1891 Censuses compared with 1998.