| Honorific Prefix: | The Right Honourable |
| The Earl of Craven | |
| Honorific Suffix: | DL |
| Office: | Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire |
| Term Start: | 1853 |
| Term End: | 1856 |
| Predecessor: | The Earl of Warwick |
| Successor: | The Lord Leigh |
| Birth Name: | William Craven |
| Birth Date: | 18 August 1809 |
| Residence: | Combe Abbey |
| Alma Mater: | Christ Church, Oxford |
| Parents: | William Craven, 1st Earl of Craven Louisa Brunton |
| Children: | 9 |
William Craven, 2nd Earl of Craven DL (18 August 1809 – 25 August 1866), styled Viscount Uffington until 1825, was a British peer.
William Craven was born on 18 August 1809. He was the eldest son of William Craven, 1st Earl of Craven and the former Louisa Brunton (1785–1860), a famous actress. Among his siblings were brothers, Hon. George Augustus Craven, an Army Officer, and Hon. Frederick Keppel Craven, a prominent cricketer. His sister, Lady Louisa Elizabeth Craven, was married twice, first to Sir Frederick Johnstone, 7th Baronet, and secondly to Alexander Oswald, a Member of Parliament for Ayrshire.
His paternal grandparents were William Craven, 6th Baron Craven, and his wife Lady Elizabeth Berkeley (a daughter of Augustus Berkeley, 4th Earl of Berkeley). His maternal grandfather was John Brunton, a grocer who later became an actor and manager of the Norwich Theatre. His mother was the youngest of six sisters, one of whom, Ann Brunton Merry, was also an actress, and married poet and dilettante Robert Merry.[1]
He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford.[2]
Upon his father's death in 1825, he succeeded to the earldom of Craven,[3] and the family estate, Combe Abbey. He gave the architect W. Eden Nesfield his first important commission, which was to build a new wing to Combe Abbey.[4]
Craven was commissioned as a captain in the Royal Berkshire Militia on 14 February 1829, but resigned on 18 March 1831.[5] [6] He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Warwickshire on 11 January 1831 and of Berkshire on 20 October 1831. He was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire in 1853, and held the office until 1856, when he resigned due to ill health. Lord Craven also served as Recorder of Coventry and High Steward of Newbury.[3]
Lord Craven was the owner of the racehorse Charity which won the 1841 Grand National[7] and a pioneer of photography.[8]
On 5 September 1835, Lord Craven was married to Lady Emily Mary Grimston, daughter of James Grimston, 1st Earl of Verulam. Together, they were the parents of nine children:[9] [10]
Lord Craven died on 25 August 1866.[13] His widow, Emily, Countess of Craven, survived her husband by more than 30 years, and died in London 21 May 1901.[14]
Through his second daughter's first marriage, he was a grandfather of George Brudenell-Bruce, 4th Marquess of Ailesbury.[15]
| Crest: | On a Chapeau Gules turned up Ermine a Griffin statant wings elevated Ermine beaked and foremembered Or |
| Coronet: | A Coronet of an Earl |
| Escutcheon: | Argent a Fess between six Cross Crosslets fitchée Gules |
| Supporters: | On either side a Griffin wings elevated Ermine beaked and foremembered Or |
| Motto: | Virtus in Actione Consistit (Virtue consists in action) |