James Crossley FSA (1800 – 1883) was an English lawyer, author, bibliophile and literary scholar who was President of the Chetham Society from 1847 to 1883 and President of the Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire from 1878 to 1883.

Life

He was born in Halifax, and moved to

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

in 1816. Some of his early essays were published in the ''

Retrospective Review The ''Retrospective Review'' was an English periodical published from 1820 to 1828. It was founded by Henry Southern, who edited it to 1826, as well as contributing. From 1827 to 1828 Nicholas Harris Nicolas was co-editor with Southern. It conce ...

''. He perpetrated a literary fraud, the forging of ''Fragment on Mummies'', supposedly by Sir Thomas Browne, that was a highly successful hoax. The bogus nature of the ''Fragment'', given by Crossley to

Simon Wilkin Simon Wilkin (27 July 1790, in Costessey − 1862, in London) was an English publisher, literary scholar and naturalist whose main interest was entomology. Life He was the second of the three children of William Wilkin Wilkin (1762–1799), a Nor ...

to publish, is now regarded as highly probable, but Crossley never precisely confessed to it. He set up the

Chetham Society The Chetham Society "for the publication of remains historic and literary connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester" is a text publication society and registered charity (No. 700047) established on 23 March 1843. History Th ...

in 1843, with

Thomas Corser Thomas Corser (1793 – 24 August 1876) was a British literary scholar and Church of England clergyman. He was the editor of ''Collectanea Anglo-Poetica''. Life Corser, third son of George Corser of Whitchurch, Shropshire, banker, and his wi ...

Francis Robert Raines Francis Robert Raines (22 February 1805 – 17 October 1878) was the Anglican vicar of Milnrow, Lancashire, known as an antiquary. He edited 23 volumes for the Chetham Society publications. He also transcribed 44 volumes of manuscripts. E ...

and others: it was named after

Humphrey Chetham Humphrey Chetham (10 July 1580 – 1653) was an English textile merchant, financier and philanthropist, responsible for the creation of Chetham's Hospital and Chetham's Library, the oldest public library in the English-speaking world.Crosb ...

and its purpose was to edit and publish historical works relating to Lancashire and Cheshire. In the following years he personally edited many of its publications: including the ''Autobiographical tracts'' of

John Dee John Dee (13 July 1527 – 1608 or 1609) was an English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, teacher, occultist, and alchemist. He was the court astronomer for, and advisor to, Elizabeth I, and spent much of his time on alchemy, divinatio ...

(1851), and the Diary of John Worthington. He served as President from 1847 until 1883. He was Vice-President of the

Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society The Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, popularly known as the Lit. & Phil., is one of the oldest learned societies in the United Kingdom and second oldest provincial learned society (after the Spalding Gentlemen's Society). Promine ...

during the late 1850s. He is said to have collected 100,000 books at his residence in Chorlton on Medlock and later Stocks House,

Cheetham Cheetham may refer to: People * Cheetham (surname) Places * Cheetham and Altona Important Bird Area, Melbourne, Australia * Cheetham Close, a megalith and scheduled ancient monument located in Lancashire, very close to the boundary with Greater ...

. He supplied the novelist William Ainsworth with historical material and ideas; he was in business with Ainsworth's father Thomas, and their friendship was lifelong.

References

*''Dictionary of National Biography'' (ed. L. Stephen); Crossley, James

External links

* *
Chetham Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crossley, James 1800 births 1883 deaths English writers People from Halifax, West Yorkshire English book and manuscript collectors English male writers Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire Chetham Society Lawyers from Manchester

Life

References

Further reading

External links