Sir Ronald (Reginald or Ranald) Crawford (c. 1240 – 1297) was the 4th Sheriff of Ayrshire, Chief of Clan Crawford, and Lord of Loudon Castle. He lived in the town of Crosbie which King Alexander granted in 1263 to his grandfather, Hugh Crawford, the 2nd Sheriff of Ayrshire, after the Battle of Largs. Ronald was the brother of Margaret, the mother of William Wallace. He risked his life and the lives of his family to provide protection from the English to his nephew. After six years of running interference for his nephew as the situation spun out of control incident after incident, Sir Ronald paid with his life, being the first Lord of the Scottish Council of Barons to be killed by agents of King Edward at the Barns of Ayr in June 1297.
References
- History of the Shire of Renfrew, George Crawfurd, Glasgow, 1710.
- The Life and Heroick Actions of the Renoun'd Sir William Wallace, General and Governor of Scotland, Blind Harry (Blin Hary or Henry the Minstrel), original personal manuscript, c. 1475.
- Blind Harry's Wallace, William Hamilton of Gilbertfield, original publication 1722, Luath Press, Edinburgh, 1998, ISBN 0-946487-33-2.
