Thomas Cradock
Thomas Cradock was an Anglican priest, reformer, translator, poet, and dramatist born in Staffordshire, England. Despite his humble beginnings as the son of a tailor, he pursued higher education at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, although he did not complete the degree requirements. Ordained as a priest in 1743, Cradock moved to Maryland in 1744, where he became the rector of St. Thomas Parish and married Catherine Risteau, a member of a prominent local family. He established a plantation and school, supplementing his income through farming and teaching alongside his ministry.
Cradock is recognized for three main contributions: his impactful sermons, his poetry, and his theatrical work. His sermons, grounded in moral storytelling, gained him considerable recognition, including a notable address to the Maryland General Assembly advocating for an American Episcopate. In poetry, he is remembered for his translations of Latin psalms and contributions to various periodicals, with a posthumous collection revealing his alignment with Neo-Augustan literary traditions. Lastly, he authored a five-act play titled *The Death of Socrates*, which, while likely not performed, is noted as one of the earliest plays written by an American. Cradock's works reflect a blend of faith and realism, challenging the romanticized views of colonial life.
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Subject Terms
Thomas Cradock
Nonfiction Writer, Playwright and Poet
- Born: November 18, 1718
- Birthplace: Staffordshire, England
- Died: May 7, 1770
Biography
Anglican priest, reformer, translator, poet, and dramatist Thomas Cradock was born in Staffordshire, England, the son of a tailor. Despite his meager circumstances, Cradock was able to attend Magdalen Hall at Oxford. He did not sit for the examinations required for conferral of his degree, but was nonetheless ordained a priest of the Anglican Church in 1743. By 1744, he had traveled to the St. Thomas Parish in Baltimore County, Maryland, to become rector. He soon married the local daughter of a well-to-do family, Catherine Risteau, and established his own plantation and school. He supplemented his preaching with farm proceeds and teaching for his entire life.
As an author, Cradock is remembered primarily for three very different achievements. As a minister, he became very well known for his sermons, a large number of which would survive him. Typically the sermons were homilies grounded in stories of private morality, similar to the well-known sermonist Archbishop John Tillotson’s. One of his most famous was made before the Maryland General Assembly and called for the end of the corruption and sins of his fellow colonial clergymen; the way to beat back such degradation was to develop an American Episcopate, thought Cradock. Rather than immediately accomplishing that goal, however, he instead helped the colony in its plan to strip power from the church.
The second achievement by Cradock was in the poetry he wrote. He gained some fame because of his translation of Buchanan’s Latin psalms into English. He published other poetry in periodicals of the day, such as American Magazine and the Maryland Gazette. Much of his poetry was not published during his lifetime, however, but a collection was posthumously published in 1983 that showed Cradock to be firmly in the tradition of his Neo-Augustan peers. Typically, his poems were meant as vessels for his faith, yet at the same time they showed a frank realism that denied the myth of a pristine and pastoral colonial America.
Cradock’s third achievement was his writing of a five- act play titled The Death of Socrates. Although it seems unlikely that his drama was ever actually performed before an audience, it nevertheless constitutes one of the first plays written by an American.