Edward Cronin (born

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

, Ireland, 1 February 1801, died

Brixton Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th ce ...

, 1 February 1882) was a pioneer of

homeopathy Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dis ...

in England and one of the founders of the

Plymouth Brethren The Plymouth Brethren or Assemblies of Brethren are a low church and non-conformist Christian movement whose history can be traced back to Dublin, Ireland, in the mid to late 1820s, where they originated from Anglicanism. The group emphasizes ...

movement.

Life

Cronin was born in 1801 in Cork, Ireland, before moving to

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

for health reasons in about 1826. In Dublin he studied medicine at the Meath Hospital, and later utilised his medical ability on Anthony Norris Groves' pioneering mission to

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

– after the death of his first wife in 1829, Cronin went with Groves to administer medical support including dealing with an outbreak of

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...

. While in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and later India, he also dealt with

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

and

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...

using homeopathic principles. Cronin returned to England in 1836, where, as a medical practitioner, he became an early adopter of homeopathy in the UK – Cronin is estimated to be the fifth such practitioner to introduce homeopathy. He was a member of the English Homeopathic Association, and in 1858 he became the last man to become a Lambeth MD before the

Medical Act 1858 The Medical Act (21 & 22 Vict c 90), ''An Act to Regulate the Qualifications of Practitioners in Medicine and Surgery'', also referred to as the Medical Act 1858, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which created the General Medical ...

abolished this particular qualification. Cronin remarried and settled in

where he lived until his death in 1882. Cronin's eldest son

Eugene Francis Cronin Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Eugene (actress) (born 1981), Kim Yoo-jin, South Korean actress and former member of the sin ...

also took up homeopathic practice, and another of his sons, Augustus Cronin became honorary dentist to the London Homeopathic Hospital.

Faith

Originally a Roman Catholic, when Cronin moved to Dublin he sought membership with various dissenting churches in the area but was only admitted as a visitor. He began meeting with other Christians including Anthony Norris Groves,

John Gifford Bellet John Gifford Bellett (19 July 1795 – 10 October 1864) was an Irish Christian writer and theologian, and was influential in the beginning of the Plymouth Brethren movement. Life Bellett was born in Dublin, Ireland. He was educated first at the ...

and

John Nelson Darby John Nelson Darby (18 November 1800 – 29 April 1882) was an Anglo-Irish Bible teacher, one of the influential figures among the original Plymouth Brethren and the founder of the Exclusive Brethren. He is considered to be the father of modern D ...

, whose conviction that the ordination of clergy was unnecessary and unscriptural, as well as his

dispensationalist Dispensationalism is a system that was formalized in its entirety by John Nelson Darby. Dispensationalism maintains that history is divided into multiple ages or "dispensations" in which God acts with humanity in different ways. Dispensationali ...

and

premillennialist Premillennialism, in Christian eschatology, is the belief that Jesus will physically return to the Earth (the Second Coming) before the Millennium, a literal thousand-year golden age of peace. Premillennialism is based upon a literal interpret ...

theology which later became principal tenets of the Plymouth Brethren movement. He remained faithful to this movement all his life, but one of his last actions was to precipitate a split in the already fractured movement. When a number of members of a failing assembly at

Ryde Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 23,999 according to the 2011 Census and an estimate of 24,847 in 2019. Its growth as a seaside resort came af ...

had stopped attending the meeting, he travelled down and met with some of them and celebrated the

Lord's Supper The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instituted ...

. A furious row erupted with different assemblies disagreeing about which side was right and therefore to be supported, with Darby, who had privately sympathised with him, attacking him in the strongest terms. The row escalated but was not resolved.

References

External links

Biography by Dr Thomas Lindsey Bradford, from ''Pioneers of Homeopathy'', 1898

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cronin, Edward 1801 births 1882 deaths Holders of a Lambeth degree Irish Plymouth Brethren People from Cork (city) British homeopaths British Plymouth Brethren British expatriates in the Ottoman Empire British expatriates in Iran British people in colonial India