George Crabb (1778–1851) was an English legal and miscellaneous writer.

Life

He was born on 8 December 1778 at

Palgrave, Suffolk Palgrave is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. It is located on the south bank of the River Waveney, opposite Diss and adjacent to the Great Eastern Main Line. Palgrave has a small primary sch ...

. He was educated at a school at Diss and under a private tutor. He began as a medical student, but became assistant to a bookseller. This he also shortly dropped to study for the ministry at

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

, but experienced a sudden change in his religious views. In 1797 he came to London, and after his marriage to Maria Southgate, who subsequently edited ‘Tales for Children from the German,’ became classical master at Thorp Arch School,

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

. To master German language he went in 1801 to

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

, where he supported himself by teaching English. In 1814 he entered

Magdalen Hall, Oxford Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main gate to the Bodleian Library. The colleg ...

, as a gentleman commoner, and shortly thereafter published his oft reprinted ''Dictionary of English Synonymes''. He graduated with a B.A. in 1821 and M.A. in 1822, with mathematical honours. He was called to the bar at the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in 1829, and adopted the practice of conveyancer and chamber counsel, but on account of his shy manner was not very successful. He became a recluse, and died on 4 December 1851.

Works

He published a ''German Grammar for Englishmen'', ''Extracts from German Authors'', and ''German and English Conversations'', all popular instruction books which passed through many editions. He also wrote an ''English Grammar for Germans''. His main legal publications were: * ''History of English Law'', 1829, based on John Reeves's ''History of English Law'' * ''Digest and Index of all the Statutes at Large'', 4 volumes, 1841–7 * ''Law of Real Property'', 2 volumes, 1846 * ''Series of Precedents in Conveyancing and Common and Commercial Forms'',’ 3rd edition, 1845 He was also the author of dictionaries which obtained wide popularity, including * ''Dictionary of English Synonymes'', 1816 * ''Universal Technological Dictionary'' * ''Universal Historical Dictionary'' * ''Dictionary of General Knowledge'' * ''New Pantheon or Mythology of all Nations''

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Crabb, George 1778 births 1851 deaths English lawyers Linguists from England English lexicographers