James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford

James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (* July 28, 1847; † January 31, 1913 ) was an English astronomer, politician, book collector and philatelist.

He was a prominent Freemason and Fellow of the Royal Society. Crawford was interested in astronomy and established a private observatory in Dunecht (or Dun real ) one, for which he hired the astronomer David Gill, who there as a pioneer of astrophotography worked (including the comet of 1882). Crawford sent expeditions to observe the solar eclipse in 1870 to Cadiz and the transit of Venus in 1874 to Mauritius. In 1878 he became President of the Royal Astronomical Society. With a foundation of books and astronomical instruments he saved in 1888 the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh before closing time ( 1896 was re-opened ).

It had one of the largest private libraries at all with the Bibliotheca Lindesiana, including one of the largest philatelic collections of books (some from the estate of John Kerr Tiffany in St. Louis, the first president of the American Philatelic Society ). The library, which was housed for the most part in Haigh Hall in Lancashire, was constructed partly from his father Alexander William Lindsay (1812-1880, the 25th Earl ). He bequeathed the philatelic literature collection of 4500 books to the British Museum and is now part of the British Library. According to him, the philatelic literature prize called Crawford Medal is named. The manuscript collection of the library was sold in 1901 to the John Rylands Library, other parts were in the National Library of Scotland, the Cambridge University Library, the British Museum.

In 1874, he was as a Conservative Member of Parliament ( Constituency Wigan), which he remained until taking up his heritage and the title in 1880.

His son, Sir Ronald Charles Lindsay (1877-1945) was from 1930 to 1939 British Ambassador to the United States.