![Dublin Univ Mag(1849)-p202-Croker-signature](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Dublin_Univ_Mag%281849%29-p202-Croker-signature.jpg)
Thomas Crofton Croker (15 January 1798 – 8 August 1854) was an
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
antiquary, best known for his ''Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland'' (1825–1828), and who also showed considerable interest in Irish song and music.
Although ''Fairy Legends'' purported to be an anthology of tales Croker had collected on his
field trips
A field trip or excursion is a journey by a group of people to a place away from their normal environment.
When done for students, as it happens in several school systems, it is also known as school trip in the United Kingdom, UK, Australia, ...
, he had lost his
manuscript notes and the work had to be reconstructed with the help of friends. He did not acknowledge his debt satisfactorily in the estimation of
Thomas Keightley
Thomas Keightley (17 October 1789 – 4 November 1872) was an Irish writer known for his works on mythology and folklore, particularly ''Fairy Mythology'' (1828), later reprinted as ''The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves, and Other Little ...
, who voiced his complaint publicly, and soon published his own rival work. The other collaborators generally allowed Croker to take credit, notably
William Maginn
William Maginn (10 July 1794 – 21 August 1842) was an Irish journalist and writer.
About
Born at Cork he became a contributor to ''Blackwood's Magazine'', and after moving to London in 1824 became for a few months in 1826 the Paris correspon ...
, though after his death his kinsmen insisted Maginn had written four or more of the tales. Croker retracted ten tales in his third edition of (1834), and after his death, a fourth edition (1859) appeared which was prefaced with a memoir written by his son.
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...
, who appropriated a number of tales for his anthology, characterised Croker as belonging to the class of the
Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...
ascendancy, and criticised him for comic distortions of the Irish tradition, an assessment echoed by other Irish critics.
Bridget G. MacCarthy
Bridget G. MacCarthy (7 June 1904 – April 1993) was an Irish academic and writer. She has been described as one of the most important female cultural and literary historians.
Biography
Bridget Gerard MacCarthy was born to Jeremiah MacCarthy a ...
wrote a biographical paper that scrutinises Croker's habit of publishing writings by others under his own name. Defenders of Croker include
Justin McCarthy and Neil C. Hultin.
Life and works
![J Cork Hist Arch(1912)-p113-Crokers](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/J_Cork_Hist_Arch%281912%29-p113-Crokers.jpg)
Croker was born in the city of
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 ...
, only son of Major Thomas Croker and his wife, the former Miss Dillon, daughter
of Croker Dillon and widow of a Mr Fitton. At age 15, he apprenticed in business. During the years 1812 to 1815 he travelled the south of Ireland and began collecting legends and songs. Croker took one Irish
coronach
A coronach (also written coranich, corrinoch, coranach, cronach, etc.) is the Scottish Gaelic equivalent of the Goll, being the third part of a round of keening, the traditional improvised singing at a death, wake or funeral in the Highlands of S ...
(keening) that he collected in Cork in 1813, and translated it into English prose, which was published in the ''
Morning Post
''The Morning Post'' was a conservative daily newspaper published in London from 1772 to 1937, when it was acquired by ''The Daily Telegraph''.
History
The paper was founded by John Bell. According to historian Robert Darnton, ''The Morning Po ...
'' in 1815 and caught the attention of the poet
George Crabbe
George Crabbe ( ; 24 December 1754 – 3 February 1832) was an English poet, surgeon and clergyman. He is best known for his early use of the realistic narrative form and his descriptions of middle and working-class life and people.
In the 177 ...
in 1817, through the intermediary of the antiquary .
[
Croker also showed talent as an artist, and his works were exhibited at Cork in 1817 ("pen-sketches of pilot-boats"), but he abandoned art in favour of a literary pursuit.][
Around 1818, he sent to the poet ]Thomas Moore
Thomas Moore (28 May 1779 – 25 February 1852) was an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist celebrated for his ''Irish Melodies''. Their setting of English-language verse to old Irish tunes marked the transition in popular Irish culture from Irish ...
a set of about forty ancient Irish air or songs, and some collected poetry, and Moore used the material in editions of his ''Irish Melodies''.[
After his father's death on 22 March 1818,][ the estate was managed by his distant relative (or of no relation), ]John Wilson Croker
John Wilson Croker (20 December 178010 August 1857) was an Anglo-Irish statesman and author.
Life
He was born in Galway, the only son of John Croker, the surveyor-general of customs and excise in Ireland. He was educated at Trinity College Dubl ...
who was then Secretary of the Admiralty
Admiralty most often refers to:
*Admiralty, Hong Kong
*Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964
*The rank of admiral
*Admiralty law
Admiralty can also refer to:
Buildings
* Admiralty, Traf ...
, and who procured him a position as clerk there, a position he would retain for thirty years until his retirement in 1850.[
He was a man of short stature, measuring 4 feet 10½ inches tall, and described by Sir ]Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...
as "Little as a dwarf, keen eyed as a hawk and of very prepossessing manners—something like Tom Moore".[
Croker eventually devoted himself largely to the collection of ancient ]Irish poetry
Irish poetry is poetry written by poets from Ireland. It is mainly written in Irish language, Irish and English, though some is in Scottish Gaelic literature, Scottish Gaelic and some in Hiberno-Latin. The complex interplay between the two mai ...
and Irish folklore
Irish folklore ( ga, béaloideas) refers to the folktales, balladry, music, dance, and so forth, ultimately, all of folk culture.
Irish folklore, when mentioned to many people, conjures up images of banshees, fairies, leprechauns and people gat ...
.[
]
''Researches in the South of Ireland''
Croker's first book, ''Researches in the South of Ireland'' (1824), was well-received by fellow-antiquaries
An antiquarian or antiquary () is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifacts, archaeological and historic sit ...
.[ According to Croker in his preface, the book was illustrated with pencil drawings by Miss Nicholson and Alfred Nicholson (1788–1833) (his future wife and brother-in-law) who accompanied him on the field trip gathering material.
]
''Fairy Legends''
''Researches'' was followed by ''Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland'' (1825–1828), which enjoyed immense popular success.[ This would be Croker's most important work.][ Walter Scott praised the book in a letter, and commended it in his own works.][
The first part was published in 1825; and was translated into German by the ]Brothers Grimm
The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...
('' Irische Elfenmärchen'', 1826). Parts two and three followed in 1828. Part three consisted of the long Grimm essay on fairies (prefaced to the ''Elfenmärchen'') Croker translated, coupled with a section on Welsh fairy tales written by an unidentified female correspondent.[
The first edition of ''Fairy Legends'' was illustrated with woodcuts by W. H. Brooke; while the second edition was supplied with original drawings by Cork's ]Daniel Maclise
Daniel Maclise (25 January 180625 April 1870) was an Irish history painter, literary and portrait painter, and illustrator, who worked for most of his life in London, England.
Early life
Maclise was born in Cork, Ireland, the son of Alexan ...
, though undergoing stylistic modifications by the engraver, Brooke. The third edition, three volumes in one was published in 1834. The work went through a total of six editions during the 19th century.
It was instrumental in attracting a wider audience to traditional Irish tales, not just within the English-speaking world, but farther abroad.[ However, Croker modified the tales according to his own inclinations, and has been criticised for adding too literary a style, and contrived humour to the tales.][
]
Collaboration controversy
Because Croker had lost the manuscript after collecting it from the field, he had to reconstruct the anthology through help from other writers, such as William Maginn
William Maginn (10 July 1794 – 21 August 1842) was an Irish journalist and writer.
About
Born at Cork he became a contributor to ''Blackwood's Magazine'', and after moving to London in 1824 became for a few months in 1826 the Paris correspon ...
, David Richard Pigot
David Richard Pigot, PC, KC (c. 1796 – 22 December 1873) was one of the leading Irish judges of his time. His children included John Edward Pigot, a noted music collector and one of the founders of the National Gallery of Ireland. His grand ...
, his friend Joseph Humphreys, Thomas Keightley
Thomas Keightley (17 October 1789 – 4 November 1872) was an Irish writer known for his works on mythology and folklore, particularly ''Fairy Mythology'' (1828), later reprinted as ''The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves, and Other Little ...
, and R. Adolphus Lynch of Killarney. The first 1825 edition of ''Fairy Legends and Traditions'' did not even bear Croker's name, owing to this being a collaborative effort. Humphreys, a Quaker, was a companion during Croker's excursions into the south 1812–1815. Samuel Carter Hall
Samuel Carter Hall (9 May 1800 – 11 March 1889) was an Irish-born Victorian journalist who is best known for his editorship of ''The Art Journal'' and for his much-satirised personality.
Early years
Hall was born at the Geneva Barracks in Wat ...
named himself as the contributor of two tales, and Charles Dod
Charles Roger Phipps Dod (or Dodd) (1793–1855) was an Irish journalist and writer, known for his reference works including the ''Parliamentary Companion''. , this work is still published as '' Dod's Parliamentary Companion''.
Life
The only son ...
of '' Parliamentary Companion'' as another collaborator.
In ''Fairy Legends'', the credit for the first piece "The Legend of Knocksheogowna" and three others were claimed by Maginn, including the prominent "Daniel O'Rourke". But according to Croker, the manuscript of "Daniel O'Rourke" was in the handwriting of Humphreys, touched up by Maginn, and further altered by Croker before going into print. Though such production that entails modification at multiple stages may be poorly countenanced by the modern folklorist, it is pointed out that such methodology is not so distant from the one practiced by the Grimms at the time.
Croker eventually took sole credit, and kept all of the proceeds from the book's financial success, but of these collaborators, only Keightley publicly voiced protest, and Keightley went on to publish his own ''Fairy Mythology'' in 1828. In the wake of it, Croker published the 1834 third edition that eliminated portions of competing claims, reducing the number of tales from 50 down to 40, and purged of "most of the copious notes", of which the comparative notes Keightley claimed to have supplied.[ Literary scholar ]Bridget G. MacCarthy
Bridget G. MacCarthy (7 June 1904 – April 1993) was an Irish academic and writer. She has been described as one of the most important female cultural and literary historians.
Biography
Bridget Gerard MacCarthy was born to Jeremiah MacCarthy a ...
gave a modern-day view criticism of Croker's dodging his way out of attributing the effort of collaborators.
Daniel O'Rourke on stage
Croker adapted the tale "Daniel O'Rourke" into a Christmas Pantomime
Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...
under the title "Harlequin and the Eagle", and performed in 1826 at the Adelphi Theatre
The Adelphi Theatre is a West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster, central London. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, and today it is a receiv ...
, for the sake of actor Daniel Terry. The actor had obtained ownership of the theatre, with considerable financial backing from Walter Scott, who was the friend of the actor's. Scott lavished praises on the pantomime at a meeting with Croker.[ Though it has been told anecdotally that it was Scott's idea to turn this into a play, Croker had this notion earlier, as evidenced in his notes to ''Fairy Legends''. The play was published as ''Daniel O'Rourke, or Rhymes of a Pantomime'', with a second edition appearing in 1828.
]
Noviomagus
In 1828, Croker participated in an excavation of the Roman site Noviomagus in Kent, and together with some members of the Society of Antiquaries, formed a club named "Noviomagian Society", for which Croker was voted president.[
]
Legends of the Lakes
Croker's third book, ''Legends of the Lakes; or, Sayings and Doings at Killarney'' (1829) was both a critical and commercial disappointment. It was written in the form of a guided tour through the landscapes of at Killarney, interspersed with legends told in the dialect of the peasantry.[ He also featured discussions of the music of his friend the Irish piper James Gandsey, of some interest to ]bagpipe
Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, Nor ...
or uilleann pipe
The uilleann pipes ( or , ) are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. Earlier known in English as "union pipes", their current name is a partial translation of the Irish language terms (literally, "pipes of the elbow"), from their ...
musicology.[
]
Later life
Croker married in 1830 Marianne Nicholson (1792–1854), daughter of Francis Nicholson
Lieutenant-General Francis Nicholson (12 November 1655 – ) was a British Army general and colonial official who served as the Governor of South Carolina from 1721 to 1725. He previously was the Governor of Nova Scotia from 1712 to 1715, the ...
. T. F. Dillon Croker FSA, FRGS, was their son and only child.[
Croker assisted in founding the ]Camden Society
The Camden Society was a text publication society founded in London in 1838 to publish early historical and literary materials, both unpublished manuscripts and new editions of rare printed books. It was named after the 16th-century antiquary a ...
(1838) and Percy Society
The Percy Society was a British text publication society. It was founded in 1840 and collapsed in 1852.
The Society was a scholarly collective, aimed at publishing limited-edition books of rare poems and songs. The president was Lady Braybrooke, a ...
(1840).[
He edited ''The Keen of the South of Ireland'' (1844) for the Percy Society. The first item in this collection (in the preface) was a keen composed in Irish by the mother of Flory Sullivan, collected in ]Gougane Barra
Gougane Barra () is a scenic valley and heritage site in the Shehy Mountains of County Cork, Ireland. It is near Ballingeary in the Muskerry ''Gaeltacht''. Gougane Barra is at the source of the River Lee and includes a lake with an oratory built ...
, Co. Cork in 1813. Croker translation of it into English got published in the ''Morning Post'' in 1815, as already noted above, and caught notice of poet George Crabbe
George Crabbe ( ; 24 December 1754 – 3 February 1832) was an English poet, surgeon and clergyman. He is best known for his early use of the realistic narrative form and his descriptions of middle and working-class life and people.
In the 177 ...
in 1817. It was an earlier version which was shown to Crabbe in correspondence, but on Crabbe's advice Croker had revised the translation to a more simplified version, more in keeping with the original Irish. B. G. MacCarthy notes that he did not actually translate the keen himself but pass off the labor of native Irish informants such as Mrs. Harrington as his own, and when left to his own devices, Croker "merely revealed ignorance" of the Irish language.
He and his wife's testimonies about funereal customs, particularly the tradition of keening
Keening (Irish: Caointeoireacht) is a traditional form of vocal lament for the dead in the Gaelic Celtic tradition, known to have taken place in Ireland and Scotland. Keening, which can be seen as a form of sean-nós singing, was performed in ...
the deceased are among the earliest and most significant contributions to the understanding of the Irish language
Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...
lament
A lament or lamentation is a passionate expression of grief, often in music, poetry, or song form. The grief is most often born of regret, or mourning. Laments can also be expressed in a verbal manner in which participants lament about somethin ...
and the accompanying traditions.
Croker died in Old Brompton
Brompton, sometimes called Old Brompton, survives in name as a ward in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. Until the latter half of the 19th century it was a scattered village made up mostly of market gardens in the county ...
, London, England on 8 August 1854, and lies buried in Brompton Cemetery
Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is a London cemetery, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Estab ...
. His wife survived him but briefly, passing away on 6 October 1854.[
]
Analysis
Attitude to folklore
Croker did not present his folklore as he found them, but reinvented them in his own literary style, as pointed out by numerous commentators, even cursory ones. The sort of mixing of folklore and literature was also carried out by contemporaries such as Walter Scott in Scotland.[ But Croker the antiquarian betrayed a "patronizing" attitude toward his subject, the Irish common folk steeped in tradition.][
Croker was an Anglo-Irishman (like Keightley),][ or as ]Yeats
William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...
put it, part of the " harum-scarum Irish gentility" (like Lover). Yeats was not the only one to charge Croker with viewing the lore of the Irish peasantry in a tinted "humorised" light; this gratuitous mockery was also noted, for example, by folklorist Seán Ó Súilleabháin
Seán Ó Súilleabháin (30 November 1903 – 13 December 1996) was a teacher and folklorist with the Irish Folklore Commission. He was a native Irish speaker from County Kerry.
Educated at St. Brendan's, College, Killarney, he trained from ...
.[ Yeats repeatedly refers to the class that "imagined ]reland
Adriaan Reland (also known as ''Adriaen Reeland/Reelant'', ''Hadrianus Relandus'') (17 July 1676, De Rijp, North Holland5 February 1718, UtrechtJohn Gorton, ''A General Biographical Dictionary'', 1838, Whittaker & Co.) was a noted Dutch Orientali ...
as a humorist's Arcadia", and continues "Their work .e., of the early folklore collectorshad the dash as well as the shallowness of an ascendant and idle class, and in Croker is touched everywhere with beauty – a gentle Arcadian beauty".
Literary scholar Neil C. Hultin also defended the author. Hultin was well aware that Irish critics bristled at Croker's comic caricatures of the Irish and their brogue, but refrained from himself criticising Croker for insensitivity. Hultin co-wrote with Warren U. Ober the introduction to Croker's reissued ''Fairy Legends'' (1993), which also depicted Croker in a sympathetic light, stating that he showed genuine affection for the peasantry, and commiseration for the oppression felt by Ireland. Hultin and Ober have suggested that Croker was trapped between two polar-opposite stereotypes of the Irish: both "intelligent, sensitive" and "headstrong, violent".
On ancient manuscript records
Croker was contemptuous of Irish annals such as the ''Annals of the Four Masters
The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' ( ga, Annála Ríoghachta Éireann) or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' (''Annála na gCeithre Máistrí'') are chronicles of medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Deluge, dated as 2,24 ...
'', and manuscripts such as the ''Book of Ballymote
The ''Book of Ballymote'' (, RIA MS 23 P 12, 275 foll.), was written in 1390 or 1391 in or near the town of Ballymote, now in County Sligo, but then in the tuath of Corann.
Production and history
This book was compiled towards the end of th ...
'' which contained narratives and poetry, calling them "the monkish chronicles" or "relics", and stating in a cavalier manner that Irish history would not suffer at all at "the total loss of the legendary records of an age of ignorance and superstition".
He claimed to be capable of reading Irish manuscripts, but it is doubtful whether he had any real proficiency in the Irish language.
List of works
According to Croker's son, ''Barney Mahoney'' (2nd ed., 1832) and ''My Village versus our Village'' (1833) were actually written by Croker's wife, Marianne.[
*''Researches in the South of Ireland'' (1824)
* ''Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland'', 3 vols. (1825–28)][, 1st ed., Part 1. , 2nd ed., Parts 1, 2, 3.]
*''Daniel O'Rourke'', 2nd ed. (1828)
* ''Legends of the Lakes, or Sayings and Doings at Killarney'' (1829)
* ''Popular Songs of Ireland'' (1839)
* ''The Keen of the South of Ireland'' (1844)
* ''Popular Songs, Illustrative of the French Invasions of Ireland'', Parts I–IV. (1845–1847), repr. (1847)
Additional titles, and notices of the journals he had contributed to, are listed by Croker's son.
Explanatory notes
References
;Citations
;Bibliography
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vol. 2
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Part 2
(1847) 846
__NOTOC__
Year 846 ( DCCCXLVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place Byzantine Empire
* Byzantine–Bulgarian War: The Bulgarians violate the peace treaty ...
br>Parts III&IV
(1847)
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* xtract of DNB, and other sources*
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Croker, Thomas Crofton
1798 births
1854 deaths
Irish antiquarians
Irish folklorists
19th-century antiquarians
People from Cork (city)
Burials at Brompton Cemetery
19th-century Irish people