that moment go before the lord mayor and swear that he, Walpole, had a conversation with the Pretender. Walpole said that it was a gross falsehood. Craggs said that might be, but he would swear it, and accompany it with such circumstances as would make it believed, and that Walpole knew he was able and capable of it’ (Life of William, Earl of Shelburne, 1875, i. 40–1). Craggs married Elizabeth, daughter of Jacob Richards, and sister of Brigadier Michael Richards, surveyor-general of the ordnance. She died on 20 Jan. 1711, and was buried at Charlton. By her he had three sons and three daughters. James [q. v.], who afterwards became secretary of state, was the only son who survived infancy. His three daughters all married well. Margaret became the wife first of Samuel Trefusis, and secondly of Sir John Hinde Cotton, bart.; Elizabeth married Edward Eliot of Port Eliot; and Anne was successively the wife of John Newsham, John Knight, and Robert, first earl Nugent [see Nugent, Robert]. As his son predeceased him, the manors of Kidbrooke and Catford in the county of Kent, which he had purchased from the trustees of Ralph, first duke of Montagu, descended to his daughters as coheiresses. The portrait of Craggs which was painted in 1709 by Sir Godfrey Kneller has been engraved by Vertue. Another portrait by Sir James Thornhill is in the possession of the Earl of St. Germans at Port Eliot.
[For authorities see under James Craggs the younger].
CRAGGS, JAMES, the younger (1686–1721), secretary of state, second son of James Craggs the elder [q. v.], was born in the city of Westminster on 9 April 1686. He was sent to school at Chelsea, but before he had completed his education went to travel on the continent. He visited the courts of Hanover and Turin, spending a considerable time at the former court, where, through the influence of the Countess of Platen, he gained the favour of the elector. He was afterwards appointed resident to the king of Spain at Barcelona, and was in Flanders at the commencement of the campaign of 1709. In September 1713 he was returned to the House of Commons for the borough of Tregony, and on the day before the queen's death was despatched by the council to Herrenhausen to inform George of the measures which had been taken by them to secure his succession to the throne.
Some months after the journey he was rewarded with the post of cofferer to the Prince of Wales. At the general election in January 1715 Craggs was again returned for Tregony, and on 13 April 1717 was appointed secretary at war in the place of William Pulteney, afterwards earl of Bath. Upon Addison's retirement Craggs succeeded him as one of the principal secretaries of state, with the charge of the southern department, and on the same day (16 March 1718) was sworn a member of the privy council. Though his political career had been remarkably rapid, Craggs's wonderful mastery of detail and readiness in debate enabled him quite to hold his own against Walpole in the House of Commons. Oldmixon relates that Addison ‘was pleased to say of his successor to me, that he was as fit a man for it as any in the kingdom; and that he never knew any man who had a greater genius for business, whether in parliament or out of parliament, than young Mr. Craggs, as (continu'd he) will appear by his conduct’ (History of England, 1735, p. 659). Unfortunately for his reputation he became implicated in the affairs of the South Sea Company. There is, however, but little evidence against him in the seven reports of the secret committee, and the most that can be laid to his charge is that at his suggestion the Duchess of Kendal and other ladies were bribed with presents of stock in order to facilitate the passing of the company's bill through parliament.
On 4 Jan. 1721 Shippen, who had on a previous occasion denounced ‘the contrivers and executors of the villainous South Sea scheme as the parricides of their country,’ declared in the house that ‘in his opinion there were some men in great station, whom in time he would not be afraid to name, who were no less guilty than the directors.’ Upon this Craggs immediately rose and replied that ‘he was ready to give satisfaction to any man who should question him either in that house or out of it.’ After considerable uproar, which was occasioned by this reply, he explained that ‘by giving satisfaction he meant clearing his conduct.’
A few weeks after this incident he was taken ill with small-pox, which was then very prevalent, and died on 16 Feb. 1721, in the thirty-fifth year of his age. He was buried at Westminster Abbey on 1 March, Spencer Compton the speaker being one of the pall-bearers. Though buried in the north aisle of Henry VII's Chapel, where his coffin rests upon that of his friend Addison, his monument stands in the baptistery. The unflagging interest which Pope took in the erection of this monument, and his opinion that Guelfi's work would make the finest figure in the place, will be found in his letters to Craggs's sisters. The epitaph, written by Pope, partly in Latin and partly in English, is given in
