Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Crewe, Frances Anne
CREWE, FRANCES ANNE, Lady Crewe (d. 1818), daughter of Fulke Greville [q. v.], envoy extraordinary to the elector of Bavaria in 1766, one of the most beautiful women of her time, married, in 1776, John (afterwards Lord) Crewe [q. v.] She was accustomed to entertain, at Crewe Hall, her husband's seat in Cheshire, and at her villa at Hampstead, some of the most distinguished of her contemporaries. Fox, who much admired her, Burke, Sheridan, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and Canning were frequent visitors. She was also on friendly terms with Dr. and Miss Burney and Mrs. Thrale. Sheridan dedicated the `School for Scandal' to her, and some lines addressed to her by Fox were printed at the Strawberry Hill Press in 1775. She died on 23 Dec. 1818. Three portraits by Reynolds have been engraved, in one of which she appears with her brother as Hebe and Cupid; and in another with Mrs. Bouverel.
[Hinchliffe's Barthomley, pp. 306-10; D'Arblay's Memoirs; Piozzi's Autobiography, 2nd ed.; Warburton's Memoirs of Horace Walpole, ii. 223.]