Robert Croke 1611/12-1681

Sir Robert CROKE 1611/12-1681

Biographical Note

Son of Sir Henry Croke, of Hampton Poyle, Oxfordshire. Matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford 1629, but did not graduate; created DMed in 1644. Called to the bar at the Inner Temple 1635. MP for Wendover 1640-43; supporting the royalist cause, he was knighted in 1641, and later compounded for his estates for £772. Clerk of the Pipe 1659, bencher at Gray's Inn 1660. He inherited Chequers House, near Ellesborough, Buckinghamshire from his mother's family, which became his main residence. His only son, also MP for Wendover 1661-71, predeceased him in 1671.

Books

Croke's short will bequeathed all his property to his wife for her lifetime, then to be divided between his three daughters. His library was sold by auction by Edward Millington in London, together with that of "another eminent counsellor of the law", beginning 23 February 1682; no catalogue survives, but the advertisement in the Impartial Protestant Mercury referred to "a choice collection of law-books, ancient and modern with an appendix of law, history and manuscripts in the law".

Characteristic Markings

None of Croke's books have been identified.

Sources

• Alston, Inventory of sale catalogues 1676-1800. St Philip, 2010.
• Foster, J. Alumni Oxonienses. London, 1888.