John Crewe, 1st Baron Crewe
1598–1679
Long parliamentary career; Treaty of Newport commissioner; created peer at the Restoration.
Biography
Of Gray's Inn, Crewe was MP for Northamptonshire and one of the long Parliament's most active committee chairs through the 1640s. A moderate Presbyterian, he served on the parliamentary commissioners at the Treaty of Newport with Charles I (September-November 1648) and was secluded at Pride's Purge for his vote to continue negotiations. He withdrew from politics during the Protectorate and returned for the Convention Parliament of 1660, helping to manage the Restoration; he was created Baron Crewe in April 1661. Died in 1679.
Lay Assessor — House of Commons
Parliament seated lay assessors alongside the divines to represent its interest and keep it informed of the Assembly's progress. The ordinance of 1643 named thirty members of the House of Commons as assessors; they could take part in debate but were not among the voting divines, and their attendance was often occasional as the war and parliamentary business pressed on them.