Thomas Crawhall (25.11.1778 – 16.9.1833) second son of Thomas Crawhall (1748 – 1812) and was of the third generation of his family to work for the Blacketts and Beaumonts. Thomas Crawhall senior was mine agent at Coalcleugh then at Allenheads. Thomas Crawhall junior was born at Coalcleugh and lived there until he was nearly 16. In 1794 he obtained a post in the Beaumont Newcastle office and moved to Newcastle where he lived for the rest of his life, working for the Beaumonts for over forty years. He married in 1820, but had no children. On the death of Martin Morrison (the Beaumonts’ Newcastle agent) in 1827 Crawhall was appointed to succeed him on a salary of £400 p.a. Crawhall owned shares in the extremely wealthy Hudgill Burn Lead Mine and made a handsome profit from this investment. During the development of the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway, in which Colonel Beaumont was a major shareholder, Crawhall was company secretary. The Crawhalls lived in several different houses in Newcastle, including in Charlotte Square. In 1830 Crawhall bought an estate of over 100 acres at Benwell and commissioned John Dobson to build a new house – Benwell Tower – for him. In 1831 Thomas Wentworth Beaumont succeeded his mother Diana Beaumont and in 1832 Thomas Crawhall either resigned or was dismissed. He was part of a remarkable dynasty in the Beaumont lead business. Brother William was chief agent at Allenheads, brother George chief agent in Weardale, with brother Isaac as his deputy. Another brother, Joseph, founded a major rope making business in Newcastle.
Ian Forbes
