- Alexander Croke
Sir Alexander Croke (
July 22 ,1758 -Dec 27 ,1842 ) was a Britishjudge , colonial administrator andauthor influential inNova Scotia of the early nineteenth century.Croke came from a wealthy family and attended Oriel College, Oxford, where he earned the degree of
Doctor of Civil Law . Practicing maritime law, he earned a strong enough reputation for his work that in 1901 he was offered his choice of appointments to the newly-established vice-admiralty courts in Nova Scotia or theWest Indies .Croke's bench in
Nova Scotia had considerable jusidiction-- over all maritime cases in a colony based largely onfishing and wheresmuggling was commonplace. Since the population and the Assembly was highly sympathetic to smuggling, the court, which deniedjury trial s to the accused was unpopular. During theWar of 1812 , the ever-conservative Croke even found guilty merchants who had been granted licences by colonial authorities to trade withNew England , on the grounds that he could not support an illegal policy.As the highest-ranking justice, Croke administered the colony while the lieutenant governor was away, from 6 Dec. 1808 to 15 April 1809 and again from 25 August to 16 Oct. 1811. His administration was marked with conflict with the Assembly, whose budget he vetoed.
Croke had an impact on the development of educational institutions in Nova Scotia. He was on the first board of King's College and was primarily responsible for drafting its statues, which required students to subscribe to the Anglician faith (as only a quarter of Nova Scotians did). When a strong movement to establish inter-denominational education appeared a few years later, Croke was among its most vocal opponents.
Croke published works of satirical poetry (which exacerbated his unpopularity in certain circles), a book on the genealogy of his family, and many letters.
He was knighted on
July 5 ,1816 .References
* Carol Anne Janzen, [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=3336 Biography at "the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online"] , 2000
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