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It is not known whether William Crotch, Oxford's Professor of Music, ever set foot in Marston, but Crotch Crescent in New Marston, which is named after him, is one of the collection of musical streets in Marston. (Sadly it is also regularly listed as having one of the rudest street names in the UK.)

A full biography of William Crotch, composer and organist is in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, which can be accessed via most public library cards in the UK: go to the ODNB online and put your library ticket number in the “Library Card Login” box.

The material below relates primarily to the time he spent in Oxford.

William Crotch was born in Norwich on 5 July 1775. He was the son of the carpenter Michael Crotch and his second wife, Isabella, and was their only child, although he had two older half-brothers by his father's first marriage to Margaret Lockton.

As a child he was a musical prodigy, and when he was just two years and three weeks old he could already pick out tunes on the pipe organ his father had made.

In April 1786 Crotch, still aged only 11, moved to Cambridge with his mother and became assistant to John Randall, the elderly professor of Music there. He learnt to play the organ at services in the chapels of St John's. Trinity, and King's College and Great St Mary's (the University Church) there, and directed the Cambridge Concerts at Petty Cury. That year he wrote his first large-scale musical composition, the oratorio The Captivity of Judah (rewritten by him many years later).

Engraving of William Crotch by James Fitter, published by William's mother on 12 May 1779 before his fourth birthday.

G. V. Cox states in Reminiscences of Oxford (1868) that Crotch was exhibited from the age of four, but in fact his first tour (of Ipswich, Oxford, Framlingham, and Bury St Edmunds) took place in the summer of 1778 around the time of his third birthday. In his memoirs, written when he was in his late 50s, Crotch said that he looked back on this part of his life with pain and humiliation and stated that he was becoming a spoilt child.

In 1783 his mother brought him to Oxford for an extended stay, taking rooms at “Mr. Underhill's. High Street”. The following advertisement appeared in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 24 May 1783, when William Crotch was still only seven years old:

OXFORD, May 23, 1783
By permission of the Rev. the Vice-Chancellor.

MASTER CROTCH, the MUSICAL CHILD, is arrived in Town, and performs on the HARPISCHORD and VIOLIN each Day at Eleven, and Six in the Evening, at Mr. Underhill's, in the High-Street, during his Stay, which will be short.
Admittance Two Shillings.—Children One Shilling.

Just over a month later, on 5 July 1783, the newspaper advertised that he was now also performing in the Holywell Music Room:

MASTER CROTCH, the Musical Child, by Permission of the Reverend the Vice-Chancellor, will perform on the Organ, Harpsichord, and Violin, this Evening at the Music Room, to begin at Half past Six o'Clock.—Master Crotch performs at Mr. Underhill's, as usual.

Crotch moved to Oxford permanently in June 1788 when he was nearly thirteen. His mother stayed behind in Cambridge, and he was placed under the care of the poet Alexander Schomberg, a probationary Fellow of Magdalen College. G. V. Cox wrote in his reminiscences that Crotch began giving concerts on the organ in the Holywell Music Room in Oxford the following year, and Jackson's Oxford Journal reported on 21 February 1789 that at a forthcoming concert there, “By particular Desire, Master CROTCH will play a CONCERTO on the ORGAN between the Acts”..

Then in 1790 when he was aged about fifteen he was appointed Organist at Christ Church Cathedral and St John's College, Oxford.

Despite having had no formal education, Crotch, described as a “pleb.”, was matriculated at the University of Oxford on 9 June 1791, just before his sixteenth birthday,

In about 1792 Crotch (aged about seventeen) was appointed Director at the Holywell Music Room, and he became friends with the Oxford artist John Malchair, who was the leader of the orchestra there. This friendship encouraged him to develop his second talent in painting and drawing.

He appears to have made this drawing of Iffley Mill on 10 July 1798.

Many of William Crotch's paintings can now be seen in his home town of Norwich, including these two Oxford scenes:

“Fisher Row and the bridge on the New Road, Oxford 1801” by Dr William Crotch (1775–1847)
Reproduced by kind permission of Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, Norfolk Museums Service

“The Paper Mill at The Weirs near Oxford” by Dr William Crotch (1775–1847)
Reproduced by kind permission of Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, Norfolk Museums Service

Crotch was awarded his B.Mus. in 1794 and his D.Mus. in 1799. On 8 April 1797 Crotch (still only 21) was elected Heather Professor Music at the University of Oxford, and two months later on 10 July 1797 at St Mary-the-Virgin Church he married Martha Bliss. Born in Oxford on 12 June 1776 and baptised at that same church five days later, she was one of the nine children of Robert & Martha Bliss of St Mary-the-Virgin parish, with whom Crotch had been lodging. Her father was a bookseller and printer in the High Street who had been matriculated as a privileged tradesman in 1770.

On 6 September 1798 at the opening of the new church in Banbury, the celebration was “heightened beyond thought, by the inimitable execution of Professor Crotch on the Organ, who very liberally gave his services for the day”.

William & Martha Crotch must have moved to St Mary Magdalen parish soon after their wedding, as their first two children were born there:

• William Robert Crotch (born in Oxford on 23 July 1799 and baptised at St Mary Magdalen Church on 18 August)
• Isabella Martha Crotch (born in Oxford on 19 December 1800 and baptised at St Mary Magdalen Church on 6 January 1801)

Their rented house in Broad Street was one of the ones demolished to make way for the New Bodleian (now Weston) Library.

In 1797 Crotch painted “The Ponds, Woodperry, near Oxford”; in 1802 “Path between Woodperry and Beckley, Oxfordshire”; and in 1810 “The Brill Hills from Woodperry”. He must have known James Pears junior (1778–1853), who lived at Woodperry House with his father James Pears senior, and after James Pears junior was appointed curate of Pirbright in Surrey in 1814, Crotch also painted “Mr Pears' house at Pirbright, from the turnpike”.

On 1 August 1799 he painted “Jones The Stonecutters, Headington Stone Quarries” (Bodleian Library M.S. Top. Oxon .c 475 f.95)

On 4 August 1800 he painted “A House on the North Side of Headington Stone Quarries”. Also in that year he painted the Clarendon Building, which was opposite his home, and “Oxford from George Bliss's Rooms at Christchurch”. (George Bliss, his wife's brother, had matriculated at the University of Oxford from Christ Church on 10 January 1799.)

G. V. Cox wrote in Reminiscences of Oxford:

I believe it was in this year [1800] that William Crotch, who had succeeded Dr. Phil. Hayes in the Professorship of Music in 1797, took his Doctor's Degree, having as Professor to examine and approve his own Musical Exercise pro gradu. Happily there could be no doubt of its excellence, from the known talents of the composer; but, as if to appeal to the judgment of others, the Exercise, under the title of 'An Ode to Fancy,' was published;—the libretto being formed from Collins's Ode with that title.

Dr Crotch was as small and short a person as Dr. Hayes was tall and large. This produced the following

JEU D'ESPRIT.
'Trying it on.'

At length when the big Doctor died
   (Weigh'd down by his fame and his fat),
His light-weighing successor tried
   To succeed to his gown and his hat.

But the three corner'd hat would not do;
   And the gown (if report you'll believe)
Was too large, even cut into two,—
   So they made him a gown of a sleeve!'

On 28 March 1801 Crotch's Broad Street home was advertised for sale, with vacant possession at Michaelmas that year:

All that convenient FREEHOLD DWELLING HOUSE, with a small Garden adjoining, situate in Broad Street aforesaid, opposite the Clarendon Printing Office, now in the occupation of Dr. CROTCH. The Premisses are in good Repair, and fit for the Residence of a genteel family.

Crotch then moved to Holywell for four years. His house there was advertised for sale on 28 September 1805:

TO be DISPOSED of by PRIVATE CONTRACT,—A desirable modern-built HOUSE, situated in Holywell, Oxford, now in the Occupation of Dr. CROTCH.—Particulars may be known by applying to Robert Bliss, jun. Oxford.

The latter must be Mrs Crotch's brother Robert Bliss, who was born in 1774 and after being matriculated as a privileged tradesman on 29 January 1802 had a bookshop in the High Street.

Although Crotch remained Professor of Music at Oxford until his death, in 1805 he and his wife moved permanently to London, and thereafter he only came to Oxford when his presence as professor of music was required.

Crotch met John Constable in London in about 1806 and was an influence on his art.

At midnight on Friday 3 March 1809 a fire broke out at Christ Church, and later that year Crotch produced a booklet of six etchings that he made from sketches by Mr O'Neill of “The ruins of the late fire at Christ Church, to which is prefixed some account of the fire, and the buildings injured by it”. It was published and sold by the Oxford bookseller Robert Bliss and printed by N. Bliss. Crotch's father-in-law Robert Bliss had died at the age of 58 on 21 January 1808 (as inscribed in a diamond on the floor of St Mary-the-Virgin Church), so the publisher must have been Crotch's brother-in-law Robert Bliss junior (born 1774), and N. Bliss is probably his brother-in-law Nathaniel Bliss (born 1780).

Crotch's twin daughters were born at Marylebone on 4 August 1810 and baptised at St Mary's Church there on 13 September:

• Jane Catherine Crotch (born 1810)
• Sarah Charlotte Crotch (born 1810)

The death of his father Michael Crotch in Norwich at the age of 79 was announced in Jackson's Oxford Journal.

When his only son William Robert Crotch was matriculated at the University of Oxford by New College at the age of 19 on 21 October 1818, his address was given as Holywell in Oxford. (The Heather Professorship of Music was attached to Wadham College in Holywell parish, and it is possible that the Crotch family was staying near there.)

On 3 June 1820 Jackson's Oxford Journal reported that Crotch, the Professor of Music, had selected the performances for a Grand Music Festival in honour of His Majesty's accession to be held at the Sheldonian Theatre on the evenings of 13, 14, & 15 June, and that he had set to music an ode composed by the Professor of Poetry that would be performed on the morning of Encaenia the next week. Crotch arranged and conducted the whole festival.

His eldest daughter Isabella Martha Crotch died at North End, Fulham at the age of 20 on 16 January 1821 and was buried at St Mary Abbots Church, Kensington on 23 January.

In 1822 Crotch was appointed the first Principal of the Royal Academy of Music.

His daughter Sarah Charlotte Crotch died at Richmond, Surrey at the age of 16 in 1826 and was buried at St Mary Abbots Church, Kensington on 25 September.

Three months later on 30 December 1826 Crotch painted this watercolour of the old St Clement's Church, Oxford, which stood near the Plain roundabout.

His mother Isabella Crotch died in 1830, and his son William Robert Crotch was married in 1831 (see below).

His only remaining daughter Jane Catherine Crotch died at Acton, Middlesex at the age of 22 and was buried at St Mary Abbots Church, Kensington on 7 June 1832.

A month after Jane's funeral, on 6 July 1832, Crotch painted this watercolour of Headington Church and village from the terrace of Bury Knowle House. This was then owned by Sir Joseph Lock (born 1760), who was evidently known to Crotch. Three days later Crotch painted his “View from my bedroom window Sir Joseph Lock's”, which must have been from Lock's town house at 6 High Street in Oxford, as it shows St Michael's and St Mary Magdalen Churches, Jesus College, and the statues on Trinity Chapel tower. Crotch also painted the watercolour shown below of Lock's organ room in his High Street house, with the organ that was built for his daughter Maria by George or George Pike England:

William Crotch's last visit to Oxford was in 1839.

He and his wife moved to Taunton, where their son William Robert Crotch was now the Master at the grammar school, and he died at his son's home there on 29 December 1847 at the age of 72. He was buried in the churchyard at Bishop's Hull, and his gravestone, which was erected 55 years after his death, can be seen here. It  reads “To the Memory / of / DR WILLIAM CROTCH, / BORN 5TH JULY 1775, / DIED 29 DECEMBER 1847. / FIRST PRINCIPAL OF THE / ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC, LONDON. / 1823–1832. THIS STONE WAS ERECTED IN JANUARY 1902 / BY THE PROFESSORS OF THAT INSTITUTION”

His obituary in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 8 January 1848 read:

DEATH OF DR. CROTCH.
On the 29th ult. died, in Taunton, at the residence of his son, the Rev. W. R. Crotch, after a short illness, in the 73d year of his age, Wm. Crotch, Esq. Mus. Doc. and Professor of Music in this University. All to whom his great talents and truly christian faith and piety were known, will deeply deplore his removal.
   He was elected Professor in the year 1797, and has always been regarded as the highest musical authority of the age. Of his numerous compositions, we have not space to write; but one of them, the oratorio of “Palestine,” will immediately occur to the memory of our readers.
   Of late years, increasing infirmities have disabled him from appearing before the University in his public capacity; but up to the last he continued to discharge, with unabated zeal and ability, his duties as Professor, with respect to the candidates for degrees in music.

He left personal and funded property estimated at £18,000.

After his death the offices of Professor and of Choragus (or Praefectus Musicae Exercitationis) were divided in two.

His widow Martha Crotch, née Bliss was living with her son and his family at Taunton Grammar School at the time of the 1851 census, described as “Widow of Musical Doctor”. She died at Weston-super-Mare at the age of 76, and was buried there on 25 October 1852.

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William Robert Crotch, William Crotch's only surviving child

William Robert Crotch (born 1799) obtained his B.A. in 1822 and was a Fellow of New College from 1820 to 1832, being ordained as a priest in August 1834. On 21 July 1831 at Bridgnorth, Shropshire he married his first wife, Elizabeth Duppa, the second daughter of Thomas Duppa, Esq. of Bridgnorth.

From 1832 he was Master of Taunton College School (and also from 1841 Chaplain to the Taunton & Somerset Hospital). He and his first wife Elizabeth had four children:

• William Duppa Crotch (born in Taunton on 31 July 1832)
• Edward Thomas Crotch (born 1834, died 1837)
• Catherine Elizabeth Duppa Crotch (born in Taunton in 1837 and baptised at St Mary Magdalene Church there on 30 November
• George Robert Crotch (born 1842)

His father died in his house at the beginning of 1848, and his first wife Elizabeth Crotch née Duppa also died on 13 October that year in Danesford, Shropshire. In the same month that his mother died his eldest son William blew his thumb off when experimenting with gunpowder.

At the time of the 1851 census William Robert Crotch, a widower of 51. was living at Taunton College School at Bishops Hull, Somerset with his sons William (18) and George (9) and his 74-year-old widowed mother, an assistant master, and three servants. Shortly after the census his son William Duppa Crotch was matriculated at the University of Oxford by New College: he obtained his B.A. in 1855.

In 1853 William Robert Crotch resigned his post as headmaster of Taunton College School and as hospital chaplain, and in the same year married his second wife, his cousin, Elizabeth Bliss. This marriage only lasted three years: on 19 October 1856 Elizabeth Crotch née Bliss died at Weston-super-Mare at the age of 49, leaving everything to her “dearly beloved husband”.

In 1861 William Robert Crotch described himself as a clergyman without cure of souls and was living at Uphill, Somerset with his son William (28) and his daughter Catherine (23)

On 27 July 1865 at Uphill parish church, Somerset his daughter Catherine Elizabeth Duppa Crotch married Samuel Thomas Nicholls, a gentleman of Weston-super-Mare.

Just two days later on 29 July 1865 at Bleadon near Weston-Super-Mare in Somerset William Robert Crotch himself, described as living at Uphill House, Uphill, married his third wife Flora Lawrance, the youngest daughter of the Revd Robert Lawrance, the Rector of Bleadon.

In 1871 William Robert Crotch was working as a temporary Curate at the age of 71 and living with his second wife and two servants at the Rectory in Wolverton, Warwickshire, and the following year he was appointed Vicar of Catherington in Hampshire.

On 16 June 1874 his youngest son George Robert Crotch, who was an entomologist, died at the age of 32 at the house of Professor Leslie in Philadelphia.

William Robert Crotch himself died on 8 May 1877 and was buried in All Saints' churchyard at Catherington.

His widowed third wife Flora Crotch, née Lawrance went to live with her unmarried brother, the Revd Robert Lawrance, the Rector of Hollesley in Suffolk, and died at the rectory there in 1897.

His son William Duppa Crotch died in 1903 and his daughter Mrs Nicholls, née Catherine Elizabeth Duppa Crotch, died in 1917.

Both his sons left legacies to the University of Cambridge for the purchase of zoological specimens (the Crotch Fund).

As the three surviving children of William Robert Crotch seem to have had no children themselves, it appears that the line of the artist and musician William Crotch died out.

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See also

• Jonathan Rennert, William Crotch (1775–1847): Composer, Artist, Teacher (Terence Dalton, Suffolk, 1975)
• Paintings by William Crotch in the Yale Center for British Art