John Cropper

Infobox Person
name = John Cropper


image_size = 240px
caption = Cropper in 1840.
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birth_date = 1797
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death_date = 1876
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resting_place =
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residence = Dingle Bank
nationality =British
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employer =
occupation = Shipping magnate
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spouse = Mary
children =
parents = James Cropper
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religion = Quaker


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John Cropper (1797–1876) was a British philanthropist and abolitionist. A businessman, he was known as "the most generous man in Liverpool".

Family

Cropper was born to James and Mary Cropper in 1797. Cropper married Anne Wakefield and they had at least three children, Margaret who was born in 1830, Charles James Cropper [http://www.toxteth.net/places/liverpool/history/people/james%20cropper.htm toxteth.net] ] and another son.

Business and philanthropy

Cropper was renowned for being rich, but also being generous. It is said that a letter addressed to "the most generous man in Liverpool" ended up on his desk. [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Qm1fHrcgZuoC&pg=PA50&lpg=PA50&dq=%22John+Cropper%22+dingle&source=web&ots=X46GyteEAZ&sig=GXJ4Jyn6YhzfOQ69MSr5nUS52os&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result Kleinwort Benson] , Jehane Wake, p50, ISBN 0198282990] Every year he and his wife would entertain juvenile delinquents who were serving their sentences at the prison shop "Akbar". Cropper would also hold a bible class every Sunday at a home the family had set up for "fallen girls." This was in addition to the ragged school they set up for local pauper's children. This school was known as "St. Croppers" and is likely to be the one referred to in the poem below.

In 1836, his father's partner, Robert Rathbone Benson (known as "Robert R"), had resigned membership from the Quakers. This was no small affair as the Quaker church was the centre of its members community. Benson was involved with, and related to, Isaac Crewdson (a leader to the Manchester Quaker meeting). Crewdson had written and published a book in January 1835 called "A Beacon to the Society of Friends" [*cite book |title=A Beacon to the Society of Friends|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=CsgHAAAAQAAJ|date=1835|first=Isaac|last=Crewdson|publisher=(unknown)] . The controversy it ignited, which related to the role of evangelism in the Society, eventually led to the resignation of Crewdson Benson [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Qm1fHrcgZuoC&pg=PA50&lpg=PA50&dq=%22John+Cropper%22+dingle&source=web&ots=X46GyteEAZ&sig=GXJ4Jyn6YhzfOQ69MSr5nUS52os&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result Kleinwort Benson] , Jehane Wake, ISBN 0198282990] and about 300 similarly minded people across the country. [http://www.qhpress.org/quakerpages/qwhp/bfhstbc.htm The Beaconite Controversy] , Anna Braithwaite Thomas, 1912] Benson moved to Manchester.

It was because of this internal controversy that on 31 January 1838, John Cropper's father James Cropper ended the partnership of Cropper, Benson & Co. which had made the family rich and wealthy. His father wanted to direct his energies to philanthropic interests and his two sons, John and Edward, had agreed.

In 1840, John Cropper journeyed to London to attend the World's anti-slavery convention on 12 June 1840. The picture above shows him in a painting made to commemorate the event which attracted delegates from America, France, Haiti, Australia, Ireland, Jamaica and Barbados. [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?LinkID=mp00224&rNo=0&role=sit The Anti-Slavery Society Convention] , 1840, Benjamin Robert Haydon, accessed 19 July 2008]

Cropper joined the committee of the Liverpool City Mission and served as its President from 1847 to 1874. [http://www.toxteth.net/places/liverpool/history/buildings/dingle%20estate.htm Dingle Estate] , Toxteth.net]

In 1853 Harriett Beecher Stowe visited England and stayed first at John Croppers house, Dingle Bank. [ [http://www.iath.virginia.edu/utc/proslav/prar170akt.html Mrs Stowe in England] , "Daily Despatch", Richmond, 3 May 1853] On 23 September 1853 Cropper's second son, John Wakefield Cropper, married Susanna Elizabeth Lydia Arnold. Susanna was third daughter of the late Dr Arnold of Rugby School cite journal|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lw00km-LcwUC&lpg=PA523&ots=rUwmh8wZPj&dq=%22John%20Cropper%22%20dingle&pg=PA523&ci=113,708,373,91&source=bookclip|journal=The Gentleman's Magazine|title=Entry in marriges column|date=1853|month=November|pages=523|volume XI|publisher=F. Jefferies]

Poem

A poem was written about John Cropper by Edward Lear [cite book|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=OOWdcHG1oXwC&pg=PA42&lpg=PA42&dq=%22He+lived+at+Dingle+Bank+-+he+did%22&source=web&ots=tMuahXm-eb&sig=Y6MRHWisx5oUqIu08QFQHpkjNr0&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result |title=Edward Lear| authour=Edward Lear, Edward Mendelson, Laura Huliska-Beith.|date=2001|isbn=0806930772|publisher=Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.|accessdate=2008-08-03]

Dingle BankHe lived at Dingle Bank - he did; -He lived at Dingle Bank;And in his garden was one Quail,Four tulips and a Tank:And from his window he could seeThe otion and the River Dee.

His house stood on a Cliff, - it did,Its aspic it was cool;And many thousand little boysResorted to his school,Where if of progress they could boastHe gave them heaps of buttered toast.But he grew rabid-wroth, he did,If they neglected books,And dragged them to adjacent CliffsWith beastly Button Hooks,And there with fatuous glee he threwThem down into the otion blue.

And in the sea they sway, they did, -All playfully about,And some eventually becameSponges, or speckled trout: -But Liverpool doth all bewailTheir Fate; - likewise his Garden Quail.

References

Persondata
NAME=Cropper, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=British philanthropist
DATE OF BIRTH=1797
PLACE OF BIRTH=
DATE OF DEATH=1876
PLACE OF DEATH=