John Croft (wine merchant)
John Croft (1732–1820) was an English wine merchant in York and Oporto. He was known also for antiquarian and literary interests, and as an eccentric.[1]
Life[]
He was the fifth son of Stephen Croft (1683–1733) and his wife Elizabeth Anderson, daughter of , born at Stillington, North Yorkshire. He went to Oporto and took part in the wine trade, where there were Croft family connections.[2] Another John Croft, a first cousin, had joined the British firm there in 1736, which then traded as Tilden, Thompson & Croft.[3]
After a period in Oporto, Croft returned to York, where he worked as a partner in the wine merchants Messrs George Suttrell & Co. He gained the freedom of the city of York in 1770, and in 1773 was one of its sheriffs. He became a well-known, eccentrically dressed local character, with the nickname "Scrapeana" from one of his works. He died at home on 18 November 1820, and was buried in York Minster on 24 November.[2]
Works[]
Croft published:[1]
- A Treatise on the Wines of Portugal; also a Dissertation on the Nature and Use of Wines in general imported into Great Britain, York 1787, 2nd edition 1788. It was dedicated to William Constable (1721–1791) of Burton Constable Hall.
- A Small Collection of the Beauties of Shakspeare, followed by Annotations on Plays of Shakespear (Johnson and Steevens's edition), York, 1810.
- Scrapeana, Fugitive Miscellany, Sans Souci, 1792, jests and anecdotes. Dedicated to Józef Boruwłaski.[4]
- Excerpta Antiqua; or a Collection of Original Manuscripts, 1797.
- Rules at the Game of Chess, 1808, anonymous.
- Memoirs of Harry Rowe the showman, who died in 1799. This was a charity publication, in support of York Dispensary.[2]
Scrapeana contained an anecdote about Elizabeth Sterne, wife of Laurence Sterne.[5] Stephen Croft of Stillington (1713–1798) was a friend of Sterne, and John Croft's brother. In 1795, John Croft sent a collection of anecdotes about Sterne to Caleb Whitefoord; and they were later published by William Hewins.[6] They constitute what has been called "an inimical character sketch".[7]
Family[]
Croft married in 1774 Judith Bacon, daughter of Francis Bacon, alderman of York, and his second wife, Catherine Hildrop. There were two sons.[2]
Notes[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1888). . Dictionary of National Biography. 13. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d Martin, John. "Croft, John". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/6721. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Jeffs, Julian (2019). Sherry. Infinite Ideas. p. 155. ISBN 978-1-910902-90-5.
- ^ Davies, Robert (1868). A Memoir of the York Press: With Notices of Authors, Printers, and Stationers, in the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Centuries. Nichols and Sons. p. 308.
- ^ Ross, Ian Campbell (2001). Laurence Sterne: A Life. Oxford University Press. p. 209. ISBN 978-0-19-212235-3.
- ^ Whitefoord, Charles; Whitefoord, Caleb; Hewins, William Albert Samuel (1898). The Whitefoord papers; being the correspondence and other manuscripts of Colonel Charles Whitefoord and Caleb Whiteford, from 1739 to 1810;. Oxford, At the Clarendon press. pp. 223–232.
- ^ Keymer, Thomas (2009). The Cambridge Companion to Laurence Sterne. Cambridge University Press. p. 146. ISBN 978-1-139-82756-0.
- 1732 births
- 1820 deaths
- English businesspeople
- English antiquarians
- English writers