Sheldon Cradock

Colonel Sheldon Cradock was an English landowner and Whig politician.

Early life

Cardock was born on 27 September 1777 as the eldest and only surviving son of Sheldon Cradock of Hartforth and Elizabeth Wilkinson. He succeeded to his father's estates in County Durham in 1814, where his family had been established since the 27th century. In 1730, his great-grandfather, William Cradock, had acquired the Hartforth estate, and through his parents' marriage, they gained more Yorkshire property at Thorpe.
He was educated at Manchester Grammar School before matriculating at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1794.

Career

He was a Captain in the North York Militia in 1800, a Major in 1804, Lt.-Col. in 1816, and Col. from 1820 to 1846.
In June 1822 he was returned on a vacancy alongside Mark Milbank for Camelford by his Durham neighbour, Lord Darlington, after a contest. Milbank was Lord Darlington's son-in-law. After the parliamentary reforms, Cradock did not seek election.

Personal life

Cardock, who never married, had nine illegitimate children, three sons and six daughters born between 1821 and 1836 by Jane Wilson, formerly of Saltburn, including:

Annie Cradock, who married François de Josselin.
Elizabeth Cradock, who married Samuel Smithson.
Christopher Cradock, who entered Trinity College, Cambridge as Christopher Wilson in 1842; he married Georgina Cradock Duff.
Mary Cradock, who married William John Tweedie.
Frances Cardock, who married Francis Horsley.
Margaret Cradock, who married Robert Lidwill Brown, a son of John Brown and Mary Charlotte Lidwill, in 1862.

Cardock died on 19 February 1852. In his will, he left property at Marske to a "single woman", Jane Wilson, with remainder to his six daughters with her. He left property at Stapleton, near Darlington to his younger illegitimate sons, Richard and Henry. The primary family estates passed to his eldest son Christopher.

Descendants

Through his son Christopher, he was a grandfather of Rear Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock, who was killed during the Battle of Coronel off the coast of Chile in November when the German ships sank his flagship.
Through his daughter Margaret, he was a grandfather of Helen Cowley Brow, who married Charles Sadleir Musgrave Trench.Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes. Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1999, volume 1, page 130.