George Croly

George Croly (17 August 1780 – 24 November 1860) was an Irish poet, novelist, historian, and Anglican priest. He was rector of St Stephen Walbrook in the City of London from 1835 until his death.

Early life

Croly was born in Dublin. His father was a physician. He graduated from Trinity College Dublin with an MA in 1804. The college was to award him an honorary LLD in 1831.

He was ordained in 1804, and served as a curate at a parish in the diocese of Meath until around 1810. Then, accompanied by his widowed mother, his brother Henry and his sisters, he moved to London. Finding himself unable to obtain preferment in the church, he dedicated himself to a literary career.

Literary career

Croly was a leading contributor to the Literary Gazette and Blackwood's Magazine, from the establishment of both in 1817, and was also associated with the Tory magazine Britannia. He worked as a theatre critic for the New Times and later as a foreign correspondent. He wrote poems, plays, satires, novels, history, and theological works, and achieved some measure of success in all. Perhaps his best known works were his novels, Salathiel (1827), and Marston (1846). The first, based on the legend of the Wandering Jew, was published under multiple titles, including: Tarry Thou Till I Come; or, Salathiel, the Wandering Jew (1827), Salathiel, A Story of the Past, Present and the Future (1828), and Salathiel: The Immortal (1855, Routledge). His main contribution to theological literature was an exposition of the Apocalypse. His hymns included Spirit of God, descend upon my heart written in 1854.