John Wilson Croker
John Wilson Croker (1780-1857) was an Irish lawyer, politician, and influential literary figure known for his role in British society during the early 19th century. Born in Galway, Ireland, Croker struggled with his identity as an Irishman and sought fulfillment in London, where he became a member of Parliament for Downpatrick in 1807. He was a founding member of the Quarterly Review and served as secretary of the admiralty, using his platform to advocate for causes such as Catholic emancipation. Croker is recognized for his sharp critiques of the Romantic poets, particularly in his controversial review of John Keats's work, and he engaged in heated exchanges with notable figures like Thomas Babington Macaulay.
Although he contributed poetry early in his career, Croker later focused primarily on nonfiction, shaping political discourse through his extensive writings. His legacy includes a reputation for principled stands on political issues, including opposition to the Corn Laws. In addition to his literary contributions, Croker was a key figure in the Tory party and is sometimes credited with coining the term "conservative." He passed away at his family home in England, having left behind a complex legacy that reflects the tumultuous political and cultural landscape of his time.
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John Wilson Croker
Politician
- Born: December 20, 1780
- Birthplace: Galway, Ireland
- Died: August 10, 1857
- Place of death: Molesey Grove, Surrey, England
Biography
John Wilson Croker was born on December 20,1780, in Galway, Ireland, the son of John Croker, an exciseman who became the surveyor-general of Irish customs and excise. Young Croker attended school at Portarlington, Ireland, and matriculated at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1795, at the age of fifteen. He entered Lincoln’s Inn in 1800, and was called to the Irish bar in 1802. He practiced law in and around Munster, Ireland, but was restless, a self-described Irishman who felt a strong attraction to London. His dissatisfaction is exhibited in his satires of Dublin society, Familiar Epistles to J. F. Jones, Esquire, on the State of the Irish Stage, and An Intercepted Letter from Canton, and the poetry in Songs of Trafalgar. Politics was to be his escape route; he became a member of Parliament for Downpatrick in 1807, the same year in which he published the pamphlet A Sketch of the State of Ireland, Past and Present, advocating Catholic emancipation.
Once in London, Croker helped found the Quarterly Review in 1809, and began writing voluminously for its pages. He became secretary of the admiralty in the same year after his vigorous defense of the Duke of York against his mistress, Mary Anne Clarke, who was imprisoned for libel in 1813. He was a close friend of the Duke of Wellington and remained in the top rank of the Tory party until 1830, when he retired from politics, refusing to reenter Parliament even when the Tories returned to office in the 1840’s. Some sources credit him with the invention of the term “conservative,” which the Tories adopted as the official title of their party. He was also one of the founders of the Athenaeum Club.
Croker wrote a little more poetry while in England, including The Battle of Albuera and an anonymous pastiche of Sir Walter Scott entitled The Battles of Talavera, but he devoted himself to nonfiction after 1811. His books, including Stories Selected from the History of England, from the Conquest to the Revolution: For Children, and other works in this period were less important than his contributions to the Quarterly Review. Although J. G. Lockhart remained the magazine’s sole titular editor, Croker involved himself extensively in its affairs after 1830, remaining its leading political writer until1854. His editorial endeavors included the ordered arrangement of James Boswell’s accounts of author Samuel Johnson.
Croker took fervent principled stands even against Tory governments over such issues as the repeal of the Corn Laws. He is most often remembered for his scathing attacks on the Romantic poets, his review of poet John Keats’s Endymion being (falsely) rumored to have hastened Keats’s death. Croker’s assault on Thomas Babington Macaulay’s History of England in 1849 attracted legal reprisals and gave rise to Macaulay’s oft-quoted remark that he “detested [Croker] more than cold boiled veal.” Croker was caricatured as Rigby in Benjamin Disraeli’s Coningsby (1844), but he was not the egregious toady portrayed therein; the three volumes culled from his correspondence and diaries, posthumously published in 1884, offer a far more accurate account of his awkward character. He died on August 10, 1857, at Molesey Grove, England, his family home since 1828.