Quentin Craufurd (1743 – 1819), Kilwinning-born Author
Quintin Crawfurd was born Thursday morning, 22 September 1743 in Kilwinning, son of Quintin Crawfurd of Newark and Ann Robison, his Lady and baptised on 01 October. His eldest brother Alexander, born about 1730 was created 1st Baronet of Kilbirnie on 08 June 1781.
Quintin worked for the British East India Company in India where he met his Italian lover Eleanora Sullivan. He returned to Europe in 1780 with a considerable fortune and settled in the Rue de Clichy, Paris, with Eleanora.
He was presented to the French court by his friend Lord Strathavon and became a friend of Marie Antoinette. Following the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, Quintin and Eleanora were amongst those who aided the Royal family in their attempted escape from Paris in June 1791. Craufurd hid the carriage to be used by the Royals in their escape attempt in his stable. Quintin and Eleanora successfully escaped to Brussels, but the Royal Family were apprehended at Varennes where they were recognised by the local postmaster. The royal family were forcibly returned to Paris and confined in the Tuileries Palace
Upon learning of the fate of the Royal family, Quintin left Brussels for London where he wrote the “Secret History of the King of France, and his Escape from Paris in June 1791,” which was first published in 1885 in the Bland-Burges Papers.
Both he and Eleanora returned to Paris in 1792 in the hopes of rescuing the Royal prisoners. Following the Insurrection of 10 August 1792 when French revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace, he left Paris and lived with the French Émigrés in Brussels, Frankfort, and Vienna. His property along with his extensive collection of artwork and literature was seized by the French and sold off. In 1798 his work “A History of the Bastille” was published. In 1802 he returned to Paris and lived there until his death on 23 November 1819. He is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris. During his lifetime he wrote 143 books which have been published in four different languages