Cruger criticized it for worsening the breach between Britain and her colonies. In 1776, he faulted the ministry for abandoning British sympathizers in the colony of New York. In 1777, he supported the repeal of the Declaratory Act (1766), and by 1780, he favored American independence. Defeated for reelection in 1780, he became Bristol's mayor in 1781. In the 1784 general election, Cruger was again returned to Parliament as the member for Bristol as a supporter of William Pitt the Younger. Throughout his political career in England he urged conciliation with America. In 1789, he sought in vain for a consular appointment in the United States from Pitt. Cruger returned to New York in 1790 after an absence of 33 years and was elected as a Federalist to the New York State Senate in 1792, urging conciliation with Great Britain while serving an otherwise undistinguished single four-year term in the 16th to the 19th New York State Legislatures. Personal life Cruger was married three times, firstly in December 1765 to Ellin Hannah Peach, a daughter of Samuel Peach of Tockington a wealthy linen draper and banker. She died in 1767, leaving a son: Samuel Peach Cruger (1767–1845), who changed his name to Samuel Peach Peach by 1788 after inheriting his grandfather Samuel's fortune, and home Tackington House, Gloucester. Cruger then married Caroline Elizabeth Blair, with whom he had six children, including: Henry H. Cruger, who married his first cousin, Mary Cruger, daughter of Nicolas Cruger. William Cruger. John Cruger (1774–1812), who married Martha Ramsay (1780–1848). Matilda Cruger (1776–1812), who married Lawrence Reid Yates (d. 1796) in 1795. After his death, she married her cousin, Judge Henry Walton, with whom she had six children. Henry and Elizabeth returned to New York in 1790, where Elizabeth died shortly thereafter. He married for the third time in 1799, when he was age 60, to Caroline Smith. Together, they were the parents of four more children, including: Matilda Caroline Cruger (1809–1891), the wife of Thomas Jackson Oakley, a New York State Attorney General and U.S. Representative, in 1831. Cruger died at home in New York City on April 24, 1827 in his 88th year, and was buried in the Trinity Church Cemetery. Legacy Cruger's house in Park Street, Bristol, on the corner of Great George Street, is marked by a commemorative plaque. See also Peter van Schaack References External links Portrait of Henry Cruger