Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Crowe, Eyre Evans
CROWE, EYRE EVANS (1799–1868), historian, born at Redbridge, Southampton, 20 March 1799, was the son of David Crowe, captain in an East India regiment, whose wife had been a Miss Hayman of Walmer. David Crowe's father was another Eyre Evans Crowe, also in the army; and an ancestor was William Crowe, dean of Clonfert from 1746 to 1766. Crowe's mother died from the effects of her confinement. He was educated at a school in Carlow, and at Trinity College, Dublin, where he won a prize for an English poem. He left college early to take to journalism in London. In 1822 he went to Italy, whence he wrote descriptive letters published in 'Blackwood's Magazine' during 1822 and 1823. He then produced a series of novels, including 'Vittoria Colonna,' 'To-day in Ireland' (1825), 'The English in Italy' (1825), 'The English in France' (1828), 'Yesterday in Ireland' (1829), and 'The English at Home' (1830). He wrote no other novel till 1853, when he published 'Charles Delmer,' a story containing much shrewd political speculation.
He contributed a 'History of France' to Lardner's 'Cabinet Encyclopædia' in 1830; and part of a series of lives of 'Eminent Foreign Statesmen' to the same in 1831, the remainder being contributed by G. P. R. James. The 'History of France,' amplified and rewritten, was published in five volumes in 1858-68. In 1853 he published 'The Greek and the Turk,' the result of a journey made to the Levant to investigate the Eastern question. In 1854 appeared his 'History of Louis XVIII and Charles X.' He had been a spectator of the street struggles in 1830, and had long resided in France. Soon after 1830 he became Paris correspondent of the 'Morning Chronicle. The needs of a growing family compelled him to devote himself exclusively to journalism. He returned to England in 1844. He joined the staff of the 'Daily News' on its foundation in 1846, and was its editor from 1849 to 1851. He also wrote the foreign articles for the 'Examiner' during the editorship of Albany Fonblanque [q. v.], and, later, of John Forster [q. v.] He died, after a painful operation, on 26 Feb. 1868, and was buried at Kensal Green.
Crowe married Margaret, daughter of Captain Archer of Kiltimon, co. Wicklow, at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, in 1823. There were six children of the marriage: Eyre Crowe, A.R.A, born 1824; Sir Joseph Archer Crowe (commercial attaché in Paris), born 1825; Eugenie Marie (now Mrs. Wynne); Edward (now deceased), born 1829; Amy Marianne (Mrs. Edward Thackeray, now deceased), born 1831; and Dr. George Crowe, born 1841. He had also a family by a second wife.
[Information from Mr. Eyre Crowe, A.R.A.]