Edward Cronin

Edward Cronin (born Cork, Ireland, February 1 1801, died Brixton, 1882) was a pioneer of homeopathy in England and one of the founders of the Plymouth Brethren movement.

Life

Cronin was born in 1801 in Cork, Ireland [Mosley, C., ed., "Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition" Wilmington: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 1, page 876] before moving toDublin for health reasons in about 1826. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=CwU9AAAAIAAJ&q=edward+cronin&dq=edward+cronin&ei=9tfsSI33DYXAMpn1vRc&pgis=1Rowdon, H.H., "The Origins of the Brethren, 1825-1850",] Pickering & Inglis, 1967, p.37] In Dublin he studied medicine at Math Hospital, and later utilised his medical ability on Anthony Norris Groves' pioneering mission toBaghdad - after the death of his wife in 1829, Cronin went with Groves to administer medical support including dealing with an outbreak of plague. [ [http://www.homeoint.org/seror/biograph/index.htm Bradford, T.L.,"Pioneers of Homeopathy", 1898] While in Persia and later India, he also dealt with cholera andtyphus using homeopathic principles. [Epps, J., "Homoeopathy and Its Principles Explained: And Its Principles Explained", English Homoeopathic Assn., 1850, p.314]

Cronin returned to England in 1836, where as a medical practicioner he became an early adopter of homeopathy in the UK - Cronin is estimated to be the fifth such practicioner to introduce homeopathy [Epps, J., "Homoeopathy and Its Principles Explained: And Its Principles Explained", English Homoeopathic Assn., 1850, p.231] . He was a member of the English Homeopathic Association, and in 1858 he became the last man to become a Lambeth MD before the Medical Act 1858 abolished this particular qualification. [Mason, A.S., "Wasn't It Exciting!" A Compilation of the Work of A. Stuart Mason", p.203, Royal College of Physicians, 2004, ISBN 1860162061] Cronin remarried and settled in Brixton where he lived until his death in 1882.Cronin's eldest son Eugene also took up homeopathic practice, and another of his sons became honorary dentist to the London Homeopathic Hospital [Monthly Homeopathic Review, Vol. 26, p. 193.]

Faith

Originally a Roman Catholic, when Cronin moved to Dublin he sought membership with variousdissenting churches in the area but was only admitted as a visitor. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=CwU9AAAAIAAJ&q=edward+cronin&dq=edward+cronin&ei=9tfsSI33DYXAMpn1vRc&pgis=1 Rowdon, H.H.,"The Origins of the Brethren, 1825-1850"] , Pickering & Inglis, 1967, p.37] He began meeting with other Christians includingAnthony Norris Groves, John Gifford Bellet and John Nelson Darby, whose conviction that the ordination of clergy was unnecessary and unscriptural, as well as his dispensationalist andpremillenialist theology later became principle tenets of the Plymouth Brethren movement.

External links

* [http://www.homeoint.org/seror/biograph/cronin.htm Biography by Dr Thomas Lindsey Bradford, from "Pioneers of Homeopathy", 1898]

* [http://www.thepeerage.com/p24738.htm#i247372 Entry from Burke's Peerage]

References