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Sir Alexander Croke (July 22, 1758 – December 27, 1842) was a British
Sir Alexander Croke (July 22, 1758 – December 27, 1842) was a British judge
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, colonial
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and author influential in Nova Scotia of the early nineteenth century.
Life
Croke was born inAylesbury
Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wy ...
, England, to a wealthy family and attended Oriel College, Oxford, where he earned the degree of Doctor of Civil Law. He was called to the bar in 1786. Practicing maritime law
Admiralty law or maritime law is a body of law that governs nautical issues and private maritime disputes. Admiralty law consists of both domestic law on maritime activities, and private international law governing the relationships between priva ...
, he earned a strong enough reputation for his work that in 1801 he was offered his choice of appointments to the newly established vice-admiralty courts in Nova Scotia or the West Indies.
He married Alice Blake in 1796.
Career
Croke's bench in Nova Scotia had considerable jurisdiction: it covered all maritime cases in a colony based largely on fishing and wheresmuggling
Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.
There are various ...
was commonplace. Since the population and the Assembly was highly sympathetic to smuggling, the court, which denied jury trials to the accused was unpopular. During the War of 1812, the ever-conservative Croke even found guilty merchants who had been granted licences by colonial authorities to engage in the slave trade with New England, on the grounds that he could not support an illegal policy.
His appointment to the Nova Scotia Council in 1802 gave him seniority over the other councilors, contrary to the established order. As the senior councilor, Croke administered the colony while the lieutenant governor
A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
was away, from December 6, 1808, to April 15, 1809, and again from August 25 to October 16, 1811. His administration was marked with conflict with the Assembly, whose budget he vetoed.
Croke influenced the development of educational institutions in Nova Scotia. He was on the first board of King's College King's College or The King's College refers to two higher education institutions in the United Kingdom:
*King's College, Cambridge, a constituent of the University of Cambridge
*King's College London, a constituent of the University of London
It ca ...
and was primarily responsible for drafting its statutes, which required students to subscribe to the Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
faith (as only a quarter of Nova Scotians did). When a strong movement to establish inter-denominational education appeared a few years later, Croke was among its most vocal opponents.
Croke published works of satirical poetry (which exacerbated his unpopularity in certain circles), a book on the genealogy of his family, and many letters.
He left Nova Scotia in 1815 and was knighted on July 5, 1816. He died in 1842 at his family home Studley Priory, Oxfordshire
Studley Priory was a small house of Benedictine nuns, ruled by a prioress. It was founded some time before 1176 in the hamlet of Studley in what is now the village of Horton-cum-Studley, northeast of Oxford in Oxfordshire, England, at 1 Horton Hi ...
.
See also
* List of lieutenant governors of Nova Scotia * Decline of slavery in Nova ScotiaReferences
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Croke, Sir Alexander 1758 births 1842 deaths Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford Governors of the Colony of Nova Scotia Colony of Nova Scotia judges Knights Bachelor