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The letters are: (1) In a neat legible hand headed Admiralty & dated 10th October, 1839 the first letter reads: "My dear Sir, I am very much indebted to you for the trouble you have taken, and for the quantity of very interesting matter you have been so good to send me." He goes on to explain that as he will be away from the admiralty until after November - "leading that kind of desultory life, that I can hardly tell from day to day where my quarters may be the next." When he is back at the Admiralty where the notes he promised copies of are & he will then transcribe them and send them on. He goes on to mention writing to Ireland for a piece of Mummery & closes with a P.S. referring to seeing the person he is writing to (O.Smith?) at the Camden Society the other day. (2) The second letter envelope is postmarked January 27, 1853 & has a black seal with a circle within which there are 3 birds with 2 on the top sides of a triangle open at the bottom and with another inside the triangle -to all intenst and purposes it looks like the roofof a hous with bordson top and another in the attic underneath. With the circel margin are the words deus alle/alis (?) rob (?). The letter is addressed to Dr.O'Callghan Glos'ter Lodge Saint Leonards on Sea. Content reads: "do not hear from him in the shape of bills, nor Mama either - you may bepretty certain that he is well looked after and all is going right. The more distant the station from England under the command of a good officer, as I believe Sir Edward Home to be, the better for the youngster.the faster will progress in the Naval Service.Mama's yearnings to see her boy. T. Crofton Croker. Both letters signed and the latterone also signed on front of envelope. Thomas Crofton Croker (1798-1854) was an antiquary and folklorist. He was born in Cork. He worked as a clerk at the Admiralty (1818-59). In 1813, he was apprenticed to a merchant in Cork, but managed to nurture the archaeological tastes he had early acquired. He contributed sketches to local exhibitions, and wrote occasionally for a local periodical. On his father's death in 1818 he went to London, where he obtained an appointment at the Admiralty through the influence of John W. Croker, a friend but no relative. In 1821 he visited Ireland, and formed the plan of a work, published in 1824 Researches in the South of Ireland. The success of his next work, Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland, published anonymously in 1825, was so marked that he wrote a second series, illustrated by Maclise, which met with as favourable a reception. Both works have been translated into German and French. These and other books, such as his valuable Memoir of General Holt, Popular Songs of Ireland, and various tales, established his reputation as a writer, and especially as an accurate collector of Irish fairy and legendary lore. He retired from Government service in 1850 on a pension of £580, and died at 3 Gloucester-road, Old Brompton, London, on 8th August 1854, aged 56. He was buried in Brompton Cemetery. He was described by Sir W. Scott, as "little as a dwarf, keen-eyed as a hawk, and of easy, prepossessing manners, something like Tom Moore." His Fairy Tales are enriched with notes, showing the points of similarity between Irish legends and those of other countries.
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