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John Cropper (1797–1874) was a British philanthropist and abolitionist. A businessman, he was known as "''the most generous man in Liverpool''".


Business and philanthropy

Cropper was renowned for being rich, but also being generous. It is said that a letter addressed to "''the most generous man in Liverpool''" ended up on his desk. Every year he and his wife would entertain juvenile delinquents who were serving their sentences at the training ship "''Akbar''". Cropper would also hold a bible class every Sunday at a home the family had set up for "fallen girls." This was in addition to the
ragged school Ragged schools were charitable organisations dedicated to the free education of destitute children in 19th century Britain. The schools were developed in working-class districts. Ragged schools were intended for society's most destitute children ...
they set up for local pauper's children. This school was known as "St. Croppers" and is likely to be the one referred to in the poem below. In 1836, his father's partner, Robert Rathbone Benson (known as "Robert R"), had resigned membership from the Quakers. This was no small affair as the Quaker church was the centre of its members community. Benson was involved with, and related to,
Isaac Crewdson Isaac Crewdson (6 June 1780 – 8 May 1844) was a minister of the Quaker meeting at Hardshaw East, Manchester. He wrote ''A Beacon to the Society of Friends'', a work published in 1835 which had a schismatic effect on English Quakerism. Ear ...
(a leader to the Manchester Quaker meeting). Crewdson had written and published a book in January 1835 called '' A Beacon to the Society of Friends''. The controversy it ignited, which related to the role of evangelism in the Society, eventually led to the resignation of Crewdson and about 300 similarly minded people across the country.The Beaconite Controversy
Anna Braithwaite Thomas, 1912
Benson moved to Manchester. It was because of this internal controversy that on 31 January 1838, John Cropper's father James Cropper ended the partnership of Cropper, Benson & Co. which had made the family rich and wealthy. His father wanted to direct his energies to philanthropic interests and his two sons, John and Edward, had agreed. In 1840, John Cropper journeyed to London to attend the World's anti-slavery convention on 12 June 1840. The picture above shows him in a painting made to commemorate the event which attracted delegates from America, France, Haiti, Australia, Ireland, Jamaica and Barbados.The Anti-Slavery Society Convention
, 1840,
Benjamin Robert Haydon Benjamin Robert Haydon (; 26 January 178622 June 1846) was a British painter who specialised in grand historical pictures, although he also painted a few contemporary subjects and portraits. His commercial success was damaged by his often tactles ...
, accessed 19 July 2008
Cropper joined the committee of the Liverpool City Mission and served as its President from 1847 to 1874.Dingle Estate
, Toxteth.net
In 1853
Harriet Beecher Stowe Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American author and abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and became best known for her novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (1852), which depicts the harsh ...
visited England and stayed first at John Cropper's house, Dingle Bank. On 23 September 1853 Cropper's third son, John Wakefield Cropper, married Susanna Elizabeth Lydia Arnold. Susanna was third daughter of the late Dr Arnold of
Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. Up ...


Family

Cropper was born to James and Mary Cropper in 1797. Cropper married Anne Wakefield and they had ten children. Mary (1821-1885) married
John Saul Howson John Saul Howson (5 May 1816 – 1885), British divine, was born at Giggleswick-on-Craven, Yorkshire. Early and private life Howson's father was head-master of Giggleswick School. His nephew George William Saul Howson (1860–1919) was ...
;
James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...
(1823-1900) founded the paper mill company which eventually became James Cropper plc in 1845 and was a Liberal MP for
Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, south-east of Windermere and north of Lancaster. Historically in Westmorland, it lies within the dale of th ...
; Sarah (1824-1890); Anne (born 1825); John Wakefield (1828-1829); John Wakefield (1830-1892); Isabella (1831-1831); Edward William (born 1833); Isabella Eliza (born 1835); Margaret (born 1836).


Poem

A poem was written about John Cropper by
Edward Lear Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limerick (poetry), limericks, a form he popularised. ...
Dingle Bank He lived at Dingle Bank - he did; - He lived at Dingle Bank; And in his garden was one Quail, Four tulips and a Tank: And from his window he could see The otion and the River Dee. His house stood on a Cliff, - it did, Its aspic it was cool; And many thousand little boys Resorted to his school, Where if of progress they could boast He gave them heaps of buttered toast. But he grew rabid-wroth, he did, If they neglected books, And dragged them to adjacent Cliffs With beastly Button Hooks, And there with fatuous glee he threw Them down into the otion blue. And in the sea they sway, they did, - All playfully about, And some eventually became Sponges, or speckled trout: - But Liverpool doth all bewail Their Fate; - likewise his Garden Quail.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cropper, John British abolitionists 1876 deaths 1797 births People from Dingle, Liverpool English Quakers English philanthropists Quaker abolitionists 19th-century British philanthropists