CREASY, SIR EDWARD SHEPHERD (1812-1878).—­Historian, ed. at Eton and
Camb., and called to the Bar in 1837, he became in 1840 Prof. of History,
London Univ., and in 1860 Chief Justice of Ceylon, when he was knighted. 
His best known contribution to literature is his Fifteen Decisive
Battles of the World (1852).  Other works are Historical and Critical
Account of the Several Invasions of England (1852), History of the
Ottoman Turks, and Imperial and Colonial Institutions of the British
Empire (1872).

CREECH, THOMAS (1659-1700).—­Translator, b. near Sherborne, ed. at Oxf., became Head Master of Sherborne School.  He translated Lucretius in verse (1682), for which he received a Fellowship at Oxf., also Horace, Theocritus, and other classics.  Owing to a disappointment in love and pecuniary difficulties he hanged himself.

CREIGHTON, MANDELL (1843-1901).—­Churchman and historian, b. at Carlisle, and ed. at Durham Grammar School and Merton Coll., Oxf., he took orders, and was presented to the living of Embleton, Northumberland, in 1875, where, in addition to zealous discharge of pastoral duties, he pursued the historical studies on the results of which his reputation chiefly rests.  In 1882 the first two vols. of his History of the Papacy appeared, followed by two more in 1887, and a fifth in 1894.  In 1884 he was appointed first Dixie Prof. of Ecclesiastical History at Camb.  He ed. the English Historical Review (1886-91).  In 1891, after having held canonries at Worcester and Windsor, he became Bishop of Peterborough, from which he was in 1897 translated to London.  His duties as Bishop of London made the completion of his great historical work an impossibility.  He wrote in addition to it various text-books on history, a life of Queen Elizabeth, a memoir of Sir George Grey, and many articles and reviews.  He was recognised as a leading authority on the department of history to which he had specially devoted himself, and he made his mark as a Churchman.

CROKER, JOHN WILSON (1780-1857).—­Politician and miscellaneous writer. Ed. at Trinity Coll., Dublin, he entered Parliament as a Tory, and was appointed to various offices, including the Secretaryship of the Admiralty, which he held for 20 years.  He was one of the founders of the Quarterly Review, and wrote some of its most violent political articles and reviews.  He pub. in 1831 an ed. of Boswell’s Life of Johnson.  He also wrote some historical essays and satirical pieces.

CROKER, THOMAS CROFTON (1798-1854).—­Irish Antiquary, b. at Cork, for some years held a position in the Admiralty.  He devoted himself largely to the collection of ancient Irish poetry and folk-lore.  Among his publications are Researches in the South of Ireland (1824), Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1825-27), Popular Songs of Ireland (1837), Daniel O’Rourke (1829), and Barney Mahoney (1832).  He assisted in founding the “Camden” and “Percy” Societies.