Thomas Crofton Croker

Funerary monument, Brompton Cemetery, London

Thomas Crofton Croker (15 January 1798 – 8 August 1854) was an Irish antiquary, born at Cork. For some years, he held a position in the Admiralty, where his distant relative, John Wilson Croker, was his superior.

Croker devoted himself largely to the collection of ancient Irish poetry and Irish folklore. He assisted in founding the Percy Society and the Camden Society. He and his wife's testimonies about funereal customs, particularly the tradition of keening the deceased are among the earliest and most significant contributions to the understanding of the Irish language lament and the accompanying traditions. His work South of Ireland went six editions, it was translated into German by the Brothers Grimm.

Croker died in 1854 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.

T.F. Dillon Croker FSA, FRGS, was his son and only child.

Works

• Researches in the South of Ireland (1824)
• Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1825-27)
• Popular Songs of Ireland (1837)
• Daniel O'Rourke (1829)
• Barney Mahoney (1832)

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London, J. M. Dent & Sons; New York, E. P. Dutton.

External links

• Archival material relating to Thomas Crofton Croker listed at the UK National Register of Archives
• Works by Thomas Crofton Croker on Open Library at the Internet Archive