Author: Crosse, Thomas
Biography:
CROSSE, Thomas (fl 1785-89)
Little is known about Thomas Crosse although in the 1780s he evidently lived in Bath, Somerset, where the Bath Journal frequently printed his verse. Curiously his 1785 Power of Friendship gives his name as Thomas Crosse, Esq., but both Pieces of Poetry, dated 1787 from the Preface, and the newspaper verse identify him as Thomas Crosse, Jun., Esq. It seems likely, however, that both books are by the same man and not by a father and his son. Pieces of Poetry is dedicated to “Miss Murden, only surviving daughter of the late John Murden of Kentbury [sic for Kintbury], in Berkshire.” Miss Murden was Jane Murden (1759-1822). She was predeceased by two sisters, Christian (1752-68) and Elizabeth (1757-78), and perhaps one of them was the woman addressed as Lucy in the poems; the book includes verses lamenting her early death. An advertisement for Pieces of Poetry in the Bath Chronicle states that proceeds from the sale are for the relief of debtors in the Bath prison. A Thomas Crosse of the EIC died at Bath in 1795 and was buried at Kintbury but he was born in about 1702. Another Thomas Crosse, born 1746, died at Bath in 1826 and was buried in St. Swithin’s churchyard, Bath; he is the more likely candidate for the author. But nothing is known for certain. (ancestry.co.uk 11 Apr. 2024; findmypast.co.uk 11 Apr. 2024; Bath Chronicle 22 Nov. 1787; Bath Journal 10 Nov. 1788, 21 Jan. 1788, 26 Nov. 1789) SR