Crowe, William

(1745-1829)

   Clergyman poet who spent his childhood at Winchester, Hampshire, where his father was a carpenter, and where William was a chorister in Winchester College chapel. He was admitted as fellow of New College, Oxford, in 1767, became a tutor, and was elected the public orator of New College in 1784. He was rector for Alton Barnes in Wiltshire. Somewhat eccentric, he was often observed walking from Alton Barnes to his college at Oxford with his coat and a few articles of underclothing flung over a stick and with his boots covered with dust. Lewesdon Hill (1788) is a long poem about a hill in the western part of Dorset, on the edge of the parish of Broadwindsor. Some of his other publications: Poems of William Collins, with notes, and Dr. Johnson's Life, corrected and enlarged, 1828. Notes and Queries, 1853 (a Latin ode on the death of his son who died in battle in 1815). Some of his poems: "Ode to the King of France," "On the Death of Captain Cook," "On the Increase of Human Life," "Succession," "The British Theatre," "To a Lady, Fortune-Telling with Cards."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition, 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www. lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). William Crowe, Lewesdon Hill, 1788 (http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/Crowe, Williamdmiall/Tintern/Crowe.htm).