Life

He was the third son of Thomas Crawfurd of Cartsburn. When Simon Fraser

Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat

Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat , was a Scottish Jacobite and Chief of Clan Fraser, who was famous for his violent feuding and his changes of allegiance. In 1715, he had been a supporter of the House of Hanover, but in 1745 he changed sides and supported the Stuart claim on the crown of Scotland...

 laid claim to the barony of Lovat, he employed Crawfurd to investigate the case, and to supply materials to support it. It is said to have been chiefly due to the researches of Crawfurd that Fraser obtained a favourable decision; but he declined to pay Crawfurd anything.

He died at Glasgow, 24 December 1748.

Works

Crawfurd was the author of

• ‘Genealogical History of the Royal and Illustrious Family of the Stewarts from the year 1034 to the year 1710; to which are added the Acts of Sederunt and Articles of Regulation relating to them; to which is prefixed a General Description of the Shire of Renfrew,’ Edinburgh, 1710;
• ‘The Peerage of Scotland, containing an Historical and Genealogical Account of the Nobility of that Kingdom,’ Edinburgh, 1716; and
• ‘Lives and Characters of the Crown Officers of Scotland, from the Reign of King David I to the Union of the two Kingdoms, with an Appendix of Original Papers,’ vol. i. 1726.

The ‘Description of the Shire of Renfrew’ was published separately, with a continuation by Semple, at Paisley

Paisley

Paisley is the largest town in the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland and serves as the administrative centre for the Renfrewshire council area...

 in 1788, and a second edition, with a continuation by Robertson, also at Paisley, 1818.

The ‘Letters of Simon, Lord Fraser, to George Crawfurd, 1728–30,’ while the Lovat case was in progress, were published in the ‘Spottiswoode Miscellany,’ 400–9.

Family

By his wife, Mary, daughter of James Anderson

James Anderson (lawyer)

James Anderson , Scottish antiquary and historian, was born at Edinburgh.He was educated for the law, and became a writer to the signet in 1691...

, author of ‘Diplomata Scotiæ,’ he had four daughters.