CROKE, Lewis Edmund
Lewis Edmund Croke was born at Paddington, London on 21 July 1875, son of Charles John Croke, a civil servant, and his second wife Mary Augusta née Martin, who married at Kensington, London in 1873. In 1881, Lewis was a 5-year-old, living at 16 Warwick Crescent, Kensington with his parents, 55-year-old Charles and 41-year-old Mary with two stepbrothers Charles William 25 and Wentworth Augustus John 10, with siblings Diana Emile Caroline 7, Blanche Augusta 3 and newly born Mary Lavina. Lewis was educated at Merchant Taylor's and studied at Ealing School of Art but was mostly self-taught. He married at Paddington, London in 1900, Constance Nora Anne Radcliffe Pontifex, an author, and they had one son. In 1901, an insurance clerk, living at 14 Warwick Road, Ealing, Brentford, Middlesex with his 26-year-old wife Constance but by 1906 had moved to 56 Uxbridge Road, Ealing from where he exhibited at the Ealing Art Guild in 1912. Pastellist, engraver (dry point), lithographer, and specialised in engraving and drawing landscapes and the English countryside, showing great sensitivity to seasonal changes. He exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français in Paris 1927-1932, where he showed dry-point engravings and lithographs, also exhibiting from 2 The Mall, Ealing, London at the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art in 1928 'Spring at Beddingham' and at the Royal Academy. In 1939, a married artist, living at Manor Farm, Saxted, Suffolk with a housekeeper Kathleen J. Rouse (born 23 November 1911). He died at Manor Farmhouse, Saxted, Woodbridge, Suffolk on 30 August 1945, aged 70. His wife Constance died at 75 Gordon Road, Ealing on 31 October 1953.
Royal Academy Exhibits
from 20 The Mall, Ealing
1932 1123 Waiting for the Ferry - dry point