Henry Cruger Jr. (November 22, 1739April 24, 1827) was a British-American merchant at the time of the American Revolution. He has a unique distinction of having been elected to both the Parliament of Great Britain (MP, 1774–1780, 1784–1790) and the New York State Senate (1792–1796).

Early life

Henry Cruger was born in New York and was a member of a wealthy merchant family. His parents were Elizabeth (née Harris) Cruger (1716–1752) and Henry Cruger Sr. (1707–1780), a member of the New York General Assembly and then the governor's council. His eldest brother, John Harris Cruger, succeeded his father as a member of the governor's council of New York, served as a Loyalist during the War and later moved to England. Two other brothers settled in the West Indies.

His paternal grandparents were Maria (née Cuyler) Cruger, an heiress (and sister of Albany Mayor Johannes Cuyler), and John Cruger, an alderman who served as the 38th mayor of New York City and was born in Bristol, England. His uncle John Cruger Jr. served as the 41st mayor of New York City and was the last Speaker of the New York General Assembly. His father, who came to England in 1775, died in Bristol in 1780. The other Whig candidate, also elected, but by a smaller majority, was Edmund Burke, who was, among other things, the provincial agent for the Province of New York. In his maiden speech before Parliament, Cruger criticized it for worsening the breach between Britain and her colonies. In 1776, he faulted the ministry for abandoning British sympathizers in the colony of New York. In 1777, he supported the repeal of the Declaratory Act (1766), and by 1780, he favored American independence.

Defeated for reelection in 1780, he became Bristol's mayor in 1781. In the 1784 general election, Cruger was again returned to Parliament as the member for Bristol as a supporter of William Pitt the Younger. Throughout his political career in England he urged conciliation with America. In 1789, he sought in vain for a consular appointment in the United States from Pitt.

Cruger returned to New York in 1790 after an absence of 33 years and was elected as a Federalist to the New York State Senate in 1792, urging conciliation with Great Britain while serving an otherwise undistinguished single four-year term in the 16th to the 19th New York State Legislatures.

Personal life

thumb|Commemorative plaque to Cruger

Cruger was married three times, firstly in December 1765 to Ellin Hannah Peach, a daughter of Samuel Peach of Tockington a wealthy linen draper and banker. She died in 1767, leaving a son:

  • Samuel Peach Cruger (1767–1845), who changed his name to Samuel Peach Peach by 1788 after inheriting his grandfather Samuel's fortune,

Cruger then married Caroline Elizabeth Blair, with whom he had six children, including:

  • William Cruger. who married Lawrence Reid Yates (d. 1796) in 1795. After his death, she married her cousin, Judge Henry Walton, with whom she had six children.

Cruger died at home in New York City on April 24, 1827, in his 88th year, and was buried in the Trinity Church Cemetery.

Legacy

Cruger's house in Park Street, Bristol, on the corner of Great George Street, is marked by a commemorative plaque.

See also

  • Peter van Schaack

References

  • Portrait of Henry Cruger Jr. by George Romney, , at the New-York Historical Society