James Crossley (author)

James Crossley FSA
Born	(1800-03-31)31 March 1800 Halifax, Yorkshire, England
Died	1 August 1883(1883-08-01) (aged 83) Manchester, Lancashire, England
Occupations	Lawyer Author Bibliophile Literary Scholar

James Crossley FSA (31 March 1800 – 1 August 1883) was an English lawyer, author, bibliophile and literary scholar who was President of the Chetham Society from 1847 to 1883 and President of the Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire from 1878 to 1883.

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Life

James Crossley was born in Halifax on 31 March 1800, and moved to Manchester in 1816.^[1] Some of his early essays were published in the Retrospective Review.^[2]

He perpetrated a literary fraud, the forging of Fragment on Mummies, supposedly by Sir Thomas Browne, that was a highly successful hoax.^[3] The bogus nature of the Fragment, given by Crossley to Simon Wilkin to publish, is now regarded as highly probable, but Crossley never precisely confessed to it.^[4]

He set up the Chetham Society in 1843, with Thomas Corser, Francis Robert Raines and others: it was named after Humphrey Chetham and its purpose was to edit and publish historical works relating to Lancashire and Cheshire. In the following years he personally edited many of its publications:^[5]^[6]^[7] including the Autobiographical tracts of John Dee (1851),^[8] and the Diary of John Worthington. He served as President from 1847 until 1883.^[9] He was Vice-President of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society during the late 1850s.

He is said to have collected 100,000 books at his residence in Chorlton on Medlock and later Stocks House, Cheetham, Manchester.^[10]^[11] He supplied the novelist William Ainsworth with historical material and ideas; he was in business with Ainsworth's father Thomas, and their friendship was lifelong.^[12]^[13]

References

^ "The city and parish of Manchester : Introduction". British-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
^ Campbell, Jane (1972) The Retrospective Review 1820–1828 and the Revival of 17th Century Poetry; p. 14.
^ Kane, Robert J. (1933) James Crossley, Sir Thomas Browne, and the Fragment on Mummies, in: "The Review of English Studies", Vol. 9, No. 35 (July 1933), pp. 266–274.
^ Schwyzer, Philip (2007) Archaeologies of English Renaissance Literature, p. 152.
^ Concise Dictionary of National Biography
^ [1] Archived 20 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine
^ Levine, P. J. A. (2003) The Amateur and the Professional: Antiquarians, Historians and Archaeologists in Victorian England 1838-1886; p. 42.
^ "Appendix II". Johndee.org. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
^ "Chetham Society: Officers and Council" (PDF). Chetham Society. 4 November 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
^ [2] Archived 12 February 2005 at the Wayback Machine
^ Swindells, Thomas (August 2008). Manchester Streets and Manchester Men (extract). ISBN 9780554723730. Retrieved 13 June 2009.
^ Mitchell, Rosemary (2000) Picturing the Past: English History in Text and Image, 1830–1870; p. 104.
^ "William Harrison Ainsworth (1805-1882) — King of the Historical Potboiler: A Brief Biography". Victoriaweb.org. Retrieved 29 October 2014.

Dictionary of National Biography (ed. L. Stephen); Crossley, James

External links

Professional and academic associations
Preceded by Edward Holme	President of the Chetham Society 1847–83	Succeeded by Richard Copley Christie
Preceded by Creation	President of the Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire 1878–83	Succeeded by Richard Copley Christie

Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society

Presidents

18th Century	Peter Mainwaring James Massey Dr Thomas Percival (I)
19th Century	Dr Thomas Percival (II) George Walker Thomas Henry (I) Dr John Hull Thomas Henry (II) John Dalton Dr Edward Holme Eaton Hodgkinson John Moore Sir William Fairbairn, Bt James Prescott Joule (I) Edward William Binney (I) Dr Robert Angus Smith Dr Henry Edward Schunck (I) James Prescott Joule (II) Edward William Binney (II) James Prescott Joule (III) Dr Henry Edward Schunck (II) Edward William Binney (III) James Prescott Joule (IV) Edward William Binney (IV) Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe William Crawford Williamson Robert Dukinfield Darbishire Balfour Stewart Osborne Reynolds Dr Henry Edward Schunck (III) Prof. Sir Arthur Schuster Henry Wilde Dr Henry Edward Schunck (IV) James Cosmo Melvill Prof. Sir Horace Lamb
20th Century	Prof. Sir Horace Lamb Charles Bailey Prof. Sir William Boyd Dawkins Sir William Henry Bailey Prof. Harold Baily Dixon (I) Francis Jones Prof. Frederick Ernest Weiss Francis Nicholson Prof. Sydney John Hickson William Thomson Prof. Sir Grafton Elliot Smith Prof. Sir Henry Alexander Miers Thomas Alfred Coward Prof. Harold Baily Dixon (II) Rev. Aloysius Laurence Cortie Herbert Levinstein Prof. Sir William Lawrence Bragg Charles Edmond Stromeyer Prof. Bernard Mouat Jones John Allan Prof. Reginald William James Robert Henry Clayton Prof. Douglas Rayner Hartree Prof. Herbert John Fleure Prof. Michael Polanyi Prof. Thomas Bertram Lonsdale Webster Dr Eric John Francis James Horace Hayhurst (I) Prof. Sir Geoffrey Jefferson Sir Peter Percy F. R. Venables Dr F. C. Toy C. E. Young Prof. Henry Solomon Lipson (I) Leonard Cohen Margaret Pilkington Horace Hayhurst (II) Brian Rodgers Dr George N. Burkhardt Dr George James Kynch Dr Edward Noah Abrahart Anthony Edmund Rivers Goulty Prof. Henry Solomon Lipson (II) Harry M. Fairhurst David G. Wilson Dr Lionel J. R. Postle Prof. Sir Netar P. Mallick (I) Dr Brian S. H. Rarity Philip G. Livesey Prof. Donald Stephen Lowell Cardwell Dr Edward Fletcher Cass Prof. Alexander Donnachie Dianne Wilson
21st Century	Iain E. Gillespie Angus G. D. Yeaman Keith D. Buckley Vivienne Blackburn Mary, Lady Mallick David J. Higginson Prof. Kenneth M. Letherman Prof. Sir Netar P. Mallick (II) Dr Diana M. Leitch Dr Susan R. Hilton Ian Cameron