Cheetham, Manchester, on 1 Aug. 1883, his end having been hastened by a fall at the Euston Square Station, London, a few months previously. He was buried at Kersal Church, Manchester. He never married.
[Palatine Note-book, iii. 221 (with portrait), iv. 97, 245; Manchester Guardian, 2 Aug. 1883; Manchester Courier and Manchester Examiner, same date; Evans's Lanc. Authors and Orators, 1850; Smith's Old Yorkshire, iii. 49 (photo. portrait); caricature portrait in Momus, 11 March 1880.]
CROSSMAN, SAMUEL (1624?–1684), divine and poet, son of Samuel Crossman of Monk's Bradfield, Suffolk (Wood, Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iv. 86), was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he graduated in arts, and B.D. in 1660 (Cantabrigienses Graduati, ed. 1787, p. 104). Taking orders, he obtained the rectory of Little Henny in Essex, from which he was ejected for nonconformity in 1662 (Newcourt, Repertorium, ii. 327, 328; Davids, Evangelical Nonconformity in Essex, p. 408). Subsequently he again conformed to the establishment, became one of the king's chaplains, and was appointed a prebendary of Bristol, by patent, on 11 Dec. 1667 (Le Neve, Fasti, ed. Hardy, i. 227). He succeeded to the deanery of Bristol on the death of Richard Towgood, B.D., about 1 May 1683, and was instituted on 1 July in that year (ib. i. 223). He died on 4 Feb. 1683–4, and was buried in the south aisle of the cathedral church of Bristol. After his death a broadsheet appeared under the title of ‘The last Testimony and Declaration of the Rev. Samuel Crossman, D.D., and Dean of Bristol, setting forth his dutiful and true affection to the Church of England, as by law established,’ with a preface by John Knight.
He published: 1. ‘The Young Mans Monitor, or a modest Offer toward the Pious and Vertuous Composure of Life from Youth to Riper Years,’ London, 1664, 16mo, reprinted by the Religious Tract Society, London, 1842(?), 12mo. 2. ‘The Young Mans Meditation, or some few Sacred Poems upon Select Subjects and Scriptures,’ London, 1664, 16mo, reprinted London, 1863, 8vo. 3. Various Sermons (Cooke, Preacher's Assistant, ii. 295; Watt, Bibl. Brit.)
[Authorities cited above.]
CROSTON, THOMAS (fl. 1659), parliamentarian. [See Croxton.]
CROTCH, WILLIAM (1775–1847), composer, born in Green's Lane, St. George Colgate, Norwich, 5 July 1775, was the youngest son of Michael Crotch, a carpenter. The elder Crotch, who was a man with some love of music and mechanical ingenuity, had built himself a small organ, on which he could play a few simple tunes. About Christmas 1776 Crotch began to show some interest when this organ was played, and about the midsummer following he could touch the key note of his favourite tunes. When only two years and three weeks old he taught himself ‘God save the King,’ first the air and then the bass, and he was soon able to play a few other simple tunes, besides displaying an extraordinary delicacy of ear. An account of him was published by the Hon. Daines Barrington, and Dr. Burney communicated a paper on him to the Royal Society, which appeared in vol. lxix. pt. i. of the ‘Philosophical Transactions.’ The child seems to have received no regular instruction, but in 1779 he came with his mother, Isabella Crotch, to London. An advertisement of this date (18 Oct. 1779) announces that ‘Mrs. Crotch is arrived in town with her son, the Musical Child, who will perform of the organ every day as usual, from one o'clock to three, at Mrs. Hart's, milliner, Piccadilly.’ About 1782 he was playing at Leicester. An eye-witness recorded that he played the pianoforte seated on his mother's knee. He was at this time a delicate but lively boy, and ‘next to music was most fond of chalking upon the floor.’ At this time he also could play the violin, as well as the pianoforte and organ. In 1786 Crotch went to Cambridge, where he studied under Dr. Randall, to whom he acted as assistant. In 1788, on the advice of the Rev. A. C. Schomberg, a tutor of Magdalen, who took great interest in him, he moved to Oxford, where he intended to study for the church. He never, however, entered at the university, as his patron's health broke down, and Crotch therefore resumed the musical profession. Previous to this, on 4 June 1789, a juvenile oratorio of his, ‘The Captivity of Judah,’ had been performed at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. During the same year he was engaged at Oxford to play a concerto at the weekly concerts in the music room. In September 1790, on the death of Thomas Norris, Crotch was appointed organist of Christ Church, a post he held until 1807 or 1808, and on 5 June 1794 he proceeded to the degree of Mus. Bac. There can be no doubt that this is the actual date when he took his degree, although in a letter dated 7 March 1800 he says: ‘I took my degree in '95.’ His exercise on this occasion is preserved in the Music School collection, and is dated 28 May 1794. In March 1797 Crotch succeeded Dr. Philip Hayes as organist of St. John's College and professor of music; the
