William Crundall is responsible more than anyone, for the present disastrous state of affairs in the town. It might do him good to know the bitterness of defeat. So proclaimed The Dover Times in 1907 after his street-widening and house­building programme.

William Crundall, a record 13 times, Mayor, father of six children, was probably the most influential councillor in Dover's history, feared and hated by many as a "Mafia" man, admired by those he befriended. The eldest son of a successful Dover timber merchant, he was employed at the age of 14 by his father in a "small but industrious way", 10 hours a day for one shilling a week. Eventually, under his directorship, the family business in Wood Street went from strength to strength. Crundall was responsible for bringing electricity and trams to the town, for the public baths, the Technical Institute and the School of Art - built with wood from his own Mills. Above all, he devoted his life to his ambition for Dover's Harbour improvements and development as an industrial port supplied, of course, with wood from his own Mills. He was hated by the press who accused him of bullying tyranny, and corruption. He became a J.P. in 1880, he was appointed senior magistrate at the age of 33 in 1882 a Conservative town councillor from 1883-1913, Mayor for the first time in 1886 and knighted in 1890.