Family background
John William Crane was born on 1 November 1870 in Patricks Plains near Singleton, NSW, the son of George Crane and Ann Walters.
Crane married Rose Nowlan Longworth (1885-1933), the daughter of wealthy industrialist, Thomas Longworth, at Longworth’s Woollahra House in Point Piper on 9 February 1910. The pair had a son, John William Longworth Crane (1919-2003), and daughter, Frances May Crane (1911-2003). His wife pre-deceased him at the age of 49 and, noted for her collection of jewellery and furs, left an estate valued at £61,628.
Crane died on 6 July 1946, aged 75, at his residence at 15 Fairfax Road, Bellevue Hill, survived by his two children and three grandchildren. He was interred with his wife at South Head Cemetery, Vaucluse.
Occupation & interests
John Crane worked as an estate agent, often acting as the agent for Thomas and William Longworth’s mining interest land acquisitions. His connection to the Longworths grew further in 1908 when they appointed him as a director and secretary of their newly established company, Australian Wollen Mills Limited. When Thomas Longworth died in 1927, he bequeathed Crane £1,000. When William Longworth died in 1928, he left a substantial estate worth £363,363, making Crane an executor and trustee and leaving him a total of £2,000 and 20,000 shares in Australian Wollen Mills.
Community activity
John Crane was a brother of the Grand United Order of Oddfellows. In 1916, he was appointed a justice of the peace in NSW. In 1917 he was admitted as a member of the Royal Motor Yacht Club in Point Piper.
Local government service
John Crane was first elected as an alderman of Paddington Council (Middle Ward) on 14 February 1905. He was re-elected unopposed in February 1908. Crane lost at the following election held on 28 January 1911 to John White.
When White’s absence from council meetings necessitated the elected council to declare his seat vacant in July 1913, Crane offered himself as a candidate to replace him. However, he was ultimately not a candidate at the by-election held on 1 August 1913, which was won uncontested by the Labor Party candidate, .
Having moved to Bellevue Hill in the intervening years, Crane stood for the Double Bay Ward of the Municipality of Woollahra and was elected unopposed at the 5 December 1925 election. He was re-elected on 1 December 1928 and 2 January 1932. He retired from Woollahra Council in 1934.
References
Compiled and researched by Andrew Beveridge, 2024
The information about this alderman was compiled in collaboration with Woollahra Library and Information Service.
‘Marriages. Crane–Longworth’, Sydney Morning Herald, 26 February 1910, p. 12, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28142306
‘Births. Crane’, Sydney Morning Herald, 17 June 1911, p. 14, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15253769
‘Births. Crane’, The Daily Telegraph, 7 June 1919, p. 10, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239602830
‘Deaths. Crane’, Sydney Morning Herald, 9 July 1946, p. 14, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29766341
‘Large Estate – Late Mr. T. Longworth’, Dubbo Dispatch and Wellington Independent, 29 July 1927, p. 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article228087537
‘£363,363 Estate. Late Mr. W. Longworth. Old Friends Remembered’, Sydney Morning Herald, 1 February 1929, p. 18, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16527756
‘Borough of Paddington’, New South Wales Government Gazette, 21 February 1905, No. 94, p. 1238, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article220955683
‘Municipality of Paddington. Triennial Elections’, Evening News, 24 January 1908, p. 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article114097175
‘Advertising. Municipal Elections. Municipality of Paddington’, Sydney Morning Herald,31 January 1911, p. 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15208722
‘Municipal Elections. Municipality of Woollahra’, Sydney Morning Herald, 4 December 1925, p. 15, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16258903
‘Municipal Elections. Municipality of Woollahra’, The Sun, 3 December 1928, p. 12, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223246877
‘Municipal Elections. Municipality of Woollahra’, Sydney Morning Herald, 4 January 1932, p. 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16831325