Henry Cruger Jr. (November 22, 1739April 24, 1827) was an American and British merchant at the time of the American Revolution. He has a unique distinction of having been elected to both the Parliament of Great Britain (MP, 1774–1780, 1784–1790) and the New York State Senate (1792–1796). Early life Henry Cruger was born in New York and was a member of a wealthy merchant family. His parents were Elizabeth (née Harris) Cruger (1716–1752) and Henry Cruger Sr. (1707–1780), a member of the New York General Assembly and then the governor's council. His eldest brother, John Harris Cruger, succeeded his father as a member of the governor's council of New York, served as a Loyalist during the War and later moved to England. Two other brothers settled in the West Indies. His younger sister, Mary Cruger, was married to Jacob Walton, also a representative in General Assembly for New York. His paternal grandparents were Maria (née Cuyler) Cruger, an heiress (and sister of Albany Mayor Johannes Cuyler), and John Cruger, an alderman who served as the 38th mayor of New York City and was born in Bristol, England. His uncle John Cruger Jr. served as the 41st mayor of New York City and was the last Speaker of the New York General Assembly. Cruger studied at King's College (now Columbia University) in New York City, but before being graduated he moved to Bristol, England in 1757. Career Upon his relocation to Bristol, he was placed in a family mercantile house and became wealthy until the Stamp Act greatly affected his livelihood and caused him much financial embarrassment. In 1765, Cruger was elected to the Bristol Common Council, a position he held until 1790. He was named sheriff of the city for 1766–1767. Cruger was elected a warden of the Society of Merchant Venturers in 1768, and Master of the Society in 1781. His father, who came to England in 1775, died in Bristol in 1780. Political career Cruger, who was known for his "ready wit and fine conversational powers," was elected as Member of Parliament for Bristol as a radical Whig in the 1774 general election in which British policy towards the colonies was an important issue. The other Whig candidate, also elected, but by a smaller majority, was Edmund Burke, who was, among other things, the provincial agent for the Province of New York. In his maiden speech before Parliament,