A member of the Conservative party, Crundall served as the Council representative on the Dover Harbour Board until he was sacked from the Board following a row with the Liberal Chairman of the Board, Lord Granville. Following his removal from the Board, Sir William tried, and almost succeeded, to gain control of the Harbour for the local Council, but the case was stopped by the House of Lords. The business was taken over some time later before being swept away, along with many other homes and businesses, when Snargate Street was widened to form the new A20 to the Eastern Docks. Sir William was honoured by the Harbour Board in 1906, when they named one of the steam locomotives used to haul trains along the sea front and through the docks after him.
William Crundall was knighted in 1889.
Sir William Crundall was born in Dover in 1847 of a long standing Doverian family. The family were ship builders of repute and when Dover was quite an important ship building town.
He left school at the age of 14 and worked for two years for less than one shilling per week.
He was a notable oarsman and joined the Army where he served in the 'K ' company of the 5th Battalion East Kent Riffles. In 1878 he retired with the rank of captain.
He built the Amanda Guest House in 1885 having bought the land from Captain Taswell. He was first elected as Mayor of Dover in 1886 and served an unbroken record of twelve more times as Mayor of Dover ; 1187, 1888, 1891, 1892, 1893, 1894, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1903, 1904 and 1910.
He introduced the trams to Dover.
The above 1910 locomotive was built by Peckett & Sons of Bristol and was driven by Jack Squires.
A figure of Sir Wiliam Crundall can be viewed in the Dover Museum .
He was chairman of the Dover Harbour Board ( 1902 - 1934 ) . In 1907 he saw the completion and opening of the new Dover Harbour by King Edward VII.
Lady Crundall was also honoured by the Harbour Board in 1906 when they named one of their tugs after her. He was a founder member of the Royal Cinque Ports Yacht Club.
He was married and had two sons and a daughter and they lived at Woodside, Kearsney. He died 1934 and was cremated in Golders Green, London prehaps because it was the only center able to do cremation at that time.
Sir William Crundall
Room and rates for Dover Guest House, bed & breakfast non smoking hotel accommodation in Dover, Kent, England, UK
In the early 1900s, he managed to persuade Kaiser Wilhelm to use Dover as a port of call for German Atlantic liners. Crundall's timber yard was still operating from the Wellington Dock in the 1960s, occupying the corner of the quayside by Northampton Street. Sir William Crundall was very influential in local politics and did much to shape the town.
