Sir Thomas Crooke, 1st Baronet facts for kids
Sir Thomas Crooke, 1st Baronet, of Baltimore (1574–1630) was an English politician, lawyer, and landowner in Ireland during the 1600s. He is best known for starting the town of Baltimore, County Cork. He helped it grow into a busy port. Sadly, the town was largely destroyed soon after his death in the Sack of Baltimore in 1631. He was a member of the Irish House of Commons for Baltimore from 1613 to 1615. He was the first of the Crooke baronets of Baltimore and an ancestor of the Crooke family from Crookstown House.
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Sir Thomas Crooke's Early Life
Thomas Crooke was born in Cransley, Northamptonshire. He was the oldest son of Reverend Thomas Crooke and his mother, Miss Samuel. His father was a Calvinist clergyman. His strong religious beliefs often caused problems with the English Crown. However, he usually avoided serious trouble because he was a preacher at Gray's Inn.
Thomas had some famous brothers. Helkiah Crooke was a doctor for King James I. Samuel Crooke was also a well-known preacher. Thomas's sister Sarah married Stephen Egerton, a leading Puritan preacher. Stephen Egerton's niece, Margaret Tyndal Winthrop, later married John Winthrop. John Winthrop became a very important colonizer and governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Thomas Crooke and John Winthrop knew each other, but they weren't especially close. However, Thomas's sister Sarah was a good friend of Margaret Winthrop and left her a large gift in her will when she died in 1624.
Thomas spent much of his childhood in Suffolk. His father was a vicar there for many years. In 1597, Thomas was allowed to join Gray's Inn, a place for lawyers to train. He became a successful lawyer in England. But after his father died in 1598, he became interested in starting new settlements. He had two main goals: to create a busy trading center and to make a safe place for people who shared his strong Calvinist beliefs.
Founding the Town of Baltimore
Around 1600, Crooke made a deal with Sir Fineen O'Driscoll. O'Driscoll was the Gaelic lord of Baltimore in County Cork. They planned to start an English settlement in Baltimore. Their plans were interrupted by the end of the Nine Years War. Sir Fineen O'Driscoll had always been an ally of the English Crown and a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I. But his relatives convinced him to join the Irish side at the Battle of Kinsale. After the Irish lost at Kinsale, most of his relatives fled. Sir Fineen himself barely managed to get a royal pardon. His daughter Eileen married into the powerful Coppinger family, who would later cause Sir Thomas a lot of trouble.
In 1605, Crooke wanted to make his land ownership official. He gave the large lands O'Driscoll had granted him to King James I. Then, King James gave them back to Crooke. King James didn't like Crooke's Calvinist beliefs, but he was smart enough to see the benefits of having a strong English presence in West Cork. In 1607, Baltimore was allowed to hold a weekly market and two fairs each year. In 1612, it became a "borough," which meant it had its own local government. Crooke himself was the "sovereign" (leader), with twelve "burgesses" (council members).
Baltimore was given the right to send two members to the Irish House of Commons. The voting system was called a potwalloper. This meant any male householder with a fireplace big enough to boil a pot could vote. Crooke himself served in the Irish Parliament from 1613 to 1615. He reached the peak of his success in 1624 when he was made a baronet. This was a special title of honor.
Around the same time, he started practicing law again. He became a member of the King's Inns, a legal society, in 1628, just two years before he died. His oldest son, Samuel, joined the Inns that same year.
Dealing with Piracy Claims
The coast of West Cork has many deep, sheltered coves. These are good places for smuggling. For years, the O'Driscolls were thought to use these coves for piracy. It was not surprising that similar accusations were made against Crooke. In 1608, the Privy Council called him to London. He had to answer charges, including one that he killed cattle in his own yard to feed pirate ships. The accusation was serious, saying he was a "chief supporter of notorious pirates."
Crooke denied all the charges. By this time, he had gained the support of many important men in Munster. These included William Lyon, the Bishop of Cork, Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, and Henry Danvers, 1st Earl of Danby, the Lord President of Munster. His friends spoke up for him. Bishop Lyon especially praised Crooke for creating a well-organized town out of nothing in less than five years.
Even though it seemed at first that he might be guilty, the Privy Council eventually cleared Crooke completely. But not everyone was happy. Authorities in Venice still called Baltimore "a nest of pirates." Some even claimed that everyone in the town was involved in illegal activities. Historians still debate whether Crooke allowed or took part in piracy. Some believe the Privy Council thought Crooke was guilty but didn't want to harm Baltimore's growing success by punishing him.
Conflict with Sir Walter Coppinger
From the very beginning of his time in Ireland, Crooke had to deal with the growing power of a rich Roman Catholic lawyer named Sir Walter Coppinger. Coppinger came from one of the most important families in Cork city. Even though his family was of Viking rather than Gaelic background, he was against the English settlers. He was also known for being very determined and sometimes harsh. To be fair, his brother Richard had married Eileen O'Driscoll, Sir Fineen O'Driscoll's daughter. So, the Coppingers might have truly believed they had a better claim to Baltimore than Crooke did.
From when the settlement started, Coppinger bothered the settlers with legal claims to their land that were not always clear. Finally, in 1610, they reached a compromise. Crooke, Coppinger, and Fineen O'Driscoll together gave a lease of Baltimore to the settlers for 21 years. This gave the settlers a strong claim to their lands. However, Coppinger soon showed he had no intention of following the agreement. Crooke, with his wealth, title, and powerful friends, was personally safe. But the Baltimore settlers faced constant harassment.
In 1616, Crooke and the settlers sued Coppinger in the Court of Castle Chamber. This was the Irish version of the Star Chamber court in England. They accused him of many aggressive acts against them. Coppinger was found guilty of one charge of riot but cleared of the others. However, Castle Chamber was not known for solving problems effectively, so this verdict didn't help Crooke much.
In 1618, Crooke gave up on getting justice in the Irish courts. He asked the Privy Council in London to protect the settlers from Coppinger's "malicious and greedy desire to take their place." He said Coppinger used both "bloody riot" and false claims to their land titles. No clear decision was made. Crooke asked the new King Charles I again in 1626. The King noticed that Castle Chamber seemed divided on the issue. He ordered a hearing before the Star Chamber. The case was still going on when Crooke died in 1630. It seems the authorities didn't want to make a final decision for either Coppinger or the settlers.
The Sack of Baltimore
In 1631, pirates from Algeria attacked Baltimore. They took more than 100 settlers, who were later sold into slavery in North Africa. A few of them were eventually bought back, but most never returned to Ireland. This attack severely damaged the town, and it never fully recovered.
Whatever Sir Thomas Crooke's faults, such as the belief that he made Baltimore a pirate's nest, it was his intelligence and hard work that made the town successful. It seems fitting, in a way, that the town's prosperity declined soon after his death.
Sir Thomas Crooke's Family
Sir Thomas Crooke and his wife, Mary Jackson, had three sons. These were Sir Samuel Crooke, who became the 2nd Baronet; Thomas, a barrister (lawyer) from Gray's Inn, who was alive in 1624; and James, who was alive in 1634. They also had at least two daughters. One daughter, Judith, married Sir Vincent Gookin, a landowner and writer. They had at least seven children. Another daughter, mentioned in her brother Samuel's will, married a Mr. Salmon. This was likely James Salmon of Castlehaven, a notable local landowner.
In his will, Thomas mentioned his "son-in-law" Arthur Jackson. At that time, "son-in-law" could also mean "stepson." So, Arthur was probably Lady Crooke's son from an earlier marriage. In his own will, Arthur referred to Lady Crooke as his mother.
Thomas left his property to his widow. He also left gifts to his daughter Judith, his stepson Arthur Jackson and Arthur's wife Mary. He remembered his brothers Samuel, "dear Helkiah," and Richard (for being kind to his children). He also left something for his sister Rachel Rosse, who was described as "much impoverished." She was married to Henry Rosse, a goldsmith. He also mentioned his "dear sister in law" Judith, who was Samuel's wife, and "good old Aunt Hudson."
The third baronet in the family, also named Thomas, stopped using the title. This was likely a condition of his marriage settlement with an heiress from the MacCarthy family. The Crooke family lived at Crookstown House for several generations. Later, the house passed to the Warren baronets through inheritance.
