Author: Croker, Thomas Crofton
Biography:
CROKER, Thomas Crofton (1798-1854: DIB)
The son of an army major, Thomas Croker (1761-1818), and Maria Fitton, née Dillon (d 1851), a widow whom he had married in 1786, he was born in Cork, Ireland; the family was Protestant. He was apprenticed to a shipping company in Cork in 1813 but found time to cultivate literary, artistic, and historical interests. He began collecting local folklore and making sketches on excursions out of the city. After the death of his father, his mother found a position for him as a junior clerk in the Admiralty office in London through John Wilson Croker (q.v.). He made a success of his job, stayed at the Admiralty for over 30 years, and retired as Senior Clerk in 1850 on an annual pension of £580. On 30 Mar. 1830 he married Marianne Nicholson (1791/2-1854), an artist, at Barnes, Surrey; they had one son. Croker started submitting articles to newspapers and magazines in 1815 and had his greatest successes with Irish-themed materials after he moved to London, notably Researches in the South of Ireland (1824), Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1825-8), an edition of The Memoirs of Joseph Holt, General of the Irish Rebels (1838), and—the first of a series—Popular Songs of Ireland (1839). His wife Marianne contributed illustrations for some of his books; collaborated in some of the writing; and was actually the author of two comic tales published under his name in 1832. By modern standards he was a slapdash editor; even in his own day his edition of a Massinger play, Believe as You List (1849), was attacked by John Payne Collier (q.v.) and he was accused of not having adequately acknowledged contributors to his antiquarian publications. He was nevertheless a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, a founder of the Camden Society and the Percy Society, and Registrar of the RLF. He died on 8 Aug. 1854 after a short illness at home at 3 Gloucester Rd., Old Brompton, London, and was buried in the Brompton Cemetery; his wife survived him by only two months and was buried in the same place on 10 Oct. (DIB 22 Sept. 2023; ODNB 22 Sept. 2023; findmypast.com 22 Sept. 2023; ancestry.com 22 Sept. 2023) HJ
Other Names:
- T. Crofton Croker