Croly, George

Author

b Dublin 1780, d Holborn, C London 1860. Trinity Coll Dublin (MA, LL.D); he was ordained and served in Ireland until 1810 when he moved to London to concentrate on literary work, and where he edited The Universal Review. In 1835 he became Rector of the poverty-stricken city parish and long-closed church of St Stephen’s Walbrook, where his evangelical preaching attracted large congregations. He wrote serious and comic verse, stage dramas, songs and novels. In 1854 (aged 74) he published Psalms and Hymns for Public Worship, which included 20 of his own texts and Psalm paraphrases, and 55 by other writers. But many of the books were destroyed by fire, and the collection was not reprinted. He died suddenly in the street in Holborn, near his London home. No.524.