William Crooke

William Crooke (6 August 1848 – 25 October 1923) was a British orientalist and a key figure in the study and documentation of Anglo-Indian folklore. He was born in County Cork, Ireland, and was educated at Erasmus Smith's Tipperary Grammar School and Trinity College, Dublin.

Crooke joined the Indian Civil Service. While an administrator in India, he found abundant material for his researches in the ancient civilizations of the country. He found ample time to write much on the people of India, their religions, beliefs and customs. He was also an accomplished hunter.

Although Crooke was a gifted administrator, his career in the ICS lasted only 25 years because of personality clashes with his superiors. He returned to England and in 1910, he was chosen to be the president of the Anthropological Section of the British Association. In 1911, having been for many years a member of the council of the Folklore Society, he was elected its president. Re-elected as president of the society in the following year, he then became the editor of its journal, Folk-lore, in 1915. He continued in this last position until his death at a nursing home in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, on 25 October 1923.

Crooke received various honours later in life, including degrees from the universities of Oxford and Dublin and a fellowship of the British Academy.