Background
Crawshay, youngest son of William Crawshay by his second wife, Bella Thompson, was born at Cyfarthfa Ironworks. He was educated at Doctor Prichard"s school at Llandaff, and from a very early age manifested interest in his father"s ironworks, and spent much of his time among them.
Career
As years increased he determined to learn practically the business of an ironworker, and in turn assisted in the puddling, the battery, and the rolling mills. He carried this so far that he even exchanged his own diet for that of the workmen. In the same year the original lease of Cyfarthfa lapsed, and was renewed at Crawshay"s earnest entreaties.
On the death of his father, the active head of the business, in 1867 he became the sole manager, and not only considerably improved the works, but opened out the coal mines to a greater and more profitable issue.
Crawshay was often spoken of as the "Iron King of Wales". His name came prominently before the public in connection with the great strikes of 1873-1875.
He was averse to unions among masters or men, but assented, as a necessary sequence of the action of the men, to a combination among the masters. Unionism became active at Cyfarthfa at a time of falling prices.
Crawshay called his men together and warned them of the consequences of persisting in their unreasonable demands.
But as they would not yield the furnaces were one by one put out. Soon after came the revolution in the iron trade, the discarding of iron for steel through the invention of the Bessemer and Siemens processes, and the thorough extinction of the old-fashioned trade of the Crawshays and the Guests. The collieries were, however, still kept active, employing about a thousand men, and several hundreds of the old workmen laboured on the estates.
Foreign the last two years of his life he took little interest in business.
He had become completely deaf and broken down by other physical infirmities. While on a visit to Cheltenham for the benefit of his health he died suddenly at the Queen"s Hotel, and on 21 June following his personalty was sworn under £1,200,000.