![CroftArms](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/CroftArms.png)
Sir Herbert Croft, 5th Baronet (1 November 1751 – 26 April 1816), English author best known for his novel ''
Love and Madness
''Love and Madness'' is a 1780 English novel by Sir Herbert Croft. It was based on the 1779 murder of Martha Ray, the mistress of Lord Sandwich, by James Hackman. Its full title is ''Love and Madness, a Story too True: in a Series of Letters betw ...
''.
Life
Croft was born at Dunster Park,
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...
, son of the son of Herbert Croft and Elizabeth Young. He matriculated at
University College, Oxford
University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the univer ...
, in March 1771, and was subsequently entered at
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...
. He was called to the bar, but in 1782 returned to Oxford with a view to preparing for holy orders. In 1786 he received the vicarage of
Prittlewell
Prittlewell is an inner city area of Southend-on-Sea in the City of Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. Historically, Prittlewell is the original settlement of the city, Southend being the ''south end'' of Prittlewell. ...
, Essex, but he remained at Oxford for some years accumulating materials for a proposed English dictionary. Croft spent years on this project and he also took on preparation work made by
Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian, multi-subject educator, and liberal political theorist. He published over 150 works, and conducted exp ...
. However, despite compiling thousands of entries not found in other dictionaries, the project was finally abandoned because of a failure to find sufficient subscribers.
Dorothy McMillan
Dorothy A. McMillan (19432021) was a British literary scholar. An expert on Scottish women's writing, McMillan edited several anthologies, as well as editions of work by George Douglas Brown, Jane Austen, Mary Somerville, Robert Browning and Sus ...
, ‘Walker , Lady Mary (1736–1822)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 4 Jan 2015
/ref> He was twice married, and on the day after his second wedding day he was imprisoned at Exeter for debt.
He then retired to Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
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, utc_offset1 = +1
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, postal ...
, and two years later his library was sold. He had succeeded in 1797 to the baronet
A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...
cy, but not to the estates, of a distant cousin, Sir John Croft, 4th Baronet. He returned to England in 1800, but went abroad once more in 1802. He lived near Amiens
Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...
at a house owned by Lady Mary Hamilton
Lady Mary Hamilton or Lady Mary Walker (''née'' Leslie; 8 May 1736 – 29 February 1821) was a Scottish novelist of the 18th century. She was the youngest daughter of Alexander Leslie, 5th Earl of Leven and the mother of James Walker, a Rear ...
, the daughter of Alexander Leslie, 5th Earl of Leven
Alexander Melville (also Alexander Leslie), 5th Earl of Leven (28 May 1695 – 2 September 1754) was a Scottish aristocrat.
Early life
He was the son of David Melville, 3rd Earl of Leven (1660–1728) and Lady Anne Wemyss (1675–1702).
His mo ...
. Later he removed to Paris, where he died on 26 April 1816.
In some of his numerous literary enterprises he had the help of Charles Nodier
Jean Charles Emmanuel Nodier (29 April 1780 – 27 January 1844) was a French author and librarian who introduced a younger generation of Romanticists to the ''conte fantastique'', gothic literature, and vampire tales. His dream related writings ...
. Croft wrote the ''Life'' of Edward Young
Edward Young (c. 3 July 1683 – 5 April 1765) was an English poet, best remembered for ''Night-Thoughts'', a series of philosophical writings in blank verse, reflecting his state of mind following several bereavements. It was one of the mos ...
inserted in Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...
's ''Lives of the Poets''.
In 1780 he published ''Love and Madness, a Story too true, in a series of letters between Parties whose names could perhaps be mentioned were they less known or less lamented''. This book, which passed through seven editions, narrates the passion of the soldier-turned-clergyman James Hackman
James Hackman (baptized 13 December 1752, hanged 19 April 1779), briefly Rector of Wiveton in Norfolk, was the man who murdered Martha Ray, singer and mistress of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. Rawlings, Philip, ''Hackman, James (bap. 1752, ...
for Martha Ray
Martha Ray (1746 – 7 April 1779) was a British singer of the Georgian era. Her father was a corsetmaker and her mother was a servant in a noble household. Good-looking, intelligent, and a talented singer, she came to the attention of many of ...
, mistress of the earl of Sandwich
Earl of Sandwich is a noble title in the Peerage of England, held since its creation by the House of Montagu. It is nominally associated with Sandwich, Kent. It was created in 1660 for the prominent naval commander Admiral Sir Edward Montagu. ...
, who was shot by her lover as she was leaving Covent Garden in 1779 (see the ''Case and Memoirs of the late Rev. Mr James Hackman'', 1779).
''Love and Madness'' has permanent interest because Croft inserted, among other miscellaneous matter, information about Thomas Chatterton
Thomas Chatterton (20 November 1752 – 24 August 1770) was an English poet whose precocious talents ended in suicide at age 17. He was an influence on Romantic artists of the period such as Shelley, Keats, Wordsworth and Coleridge.
Althoug ...
gained from letters which he obtained from the poet's sister, Mrs Newton, under false pretences, stealing them from her and used without payment nor permission. Robert Southey
Robert Southey ( or ; 12 August 1774 – 21 March 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic school, and Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death. Like the other Lake Poets, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Southey began as a ra ...
, when about to publish an edition of Chatterton's works for the benefit of his family, published (November 1799) details of Croft's proceedings in the ''Monthly'' To this attack Croft wrote a reply addressed to John Nichols in the ''Gentleman's Magazine'', and afterwards printed separately as ''Chatterton and Love and Madness ...'' (1800).
This tract evades the main accusation, and contains much abuse of Southey. In outing Croft's villainous acts, Southey and Cottle worked together, with both the desire to help Chatterton's widowed and impoverished sister, and to turn themselves into the primary editors of Chatterton's works.
Croft supplied the material for the exhaustive account of Chatterton in Andrew Kippis
Andrew Kippis (28 March 17258 October 1795) was an English nonconformist clergyman and biographer.
Life
The son of Robert Kippis, a silk-hosier, he was born at Nottingham. Having gone to Carre's Grammar School in Sleaford, Lincolnshire he pass ...
's ''Biographia Britannica
''Biographia Britannica'' was a multi-volume biographical compendium, "the most ambitious attempt in the latter half of the eighteenth century to document the lives of notable British men and women". The first edition, edited by William Oldys (16 ...
'' (vol. iv., 1789).
In 1788 he addressed a letter to William Pitt on the subject of a new dictionary. He criticized Samuel Johnson's efforts, and in 1790 he claimed to have collected 11,000 words used by excellent authorities but omitted by Johnson. Two years later he issued proposals for a revised edition of ''Johnson's Dictionary
''A Dictionary of the English Language'', sometimes published as ''Johnson's Dictionary'', was published on 15 April 1755 and written by Samuel Johnson. It is among the most influential dictionaries in the history of the English language.
The ...
'', but subscribers were lacking and his 200 vols. of manuscript remained unused. Croft was a good scholar and linguist, and the author of some curious books in French.
Charles Nodier
Jean Charles Emmanuel Nodier (29 April 1780 – 27 January 1844) was a French author and librarian who introduced a younger generation of Romanticists to the ''conte fantastique'', gothic literature, and vampire tales. His dream related writings ...
was working as a secretary to the elderly Croft and his platonic friend, the novelist Lady Mary Hamilton
Lady Mary Hamilton or Lady Mary Walker (''née'' Leslie; 8 May 1736 – 29 February 1821) was a Scottish novelist of the 18th century. She was the youngest daughter of Alexander Leslie, 5th Earl of Leven and the mother of James Walker, a Rear ...
in France. During this time Nodier translated Hamilton's book ''Munster Village'' and helped her write ''La famille du duc de Popoli'' or ''The Duc de Popoli'' which was published in 1810.
''The Love Letters of Mr H. and Miss R. 1775–1779'' were edited from Croft's book by Mr Gilbert Burgess (1895). See also John Nichols's ''Illustrations ...'' (1828), v. 202–218.
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Croft, Sir Herbert, 5th Baronet
English biographers
English non-fiction writers
Baronets in the Baronetage of England
1751 births
1816 deaths
18th-century English male writers
18th-century English novelists
English male novelists
English male non-fiction writers
Male biographers