Poet – Herbalist – Priest – Curate at Stathern 1785-89

George Crabbe was born in Aldeburgh, Suffolk in 1754. If there had been enough money he would have trained as a doctor. Instead, he worked for an apothecary and studied botany, flowers and herbs.

Also, Crabbe read widely, joined literary circles and met many well-known people – Edmund Burke, Samuel Johnson and Lord Thurlow (Lord Chancellor) – who helped him.

Crabbe wrote an enormous amount of poetry portraying rural life in England, some of which was published.
The opera Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten is based on George Crabbe’s 1810 published collection of poems entitled The Borough.

In 1782 he was ordained and through his contacts soon became chaplain to the Duke of Rutland living at Belvoir Castle. This enabled him to marry Sarah Elmy in December 1783. She was the niece of John Tovell, a yeoman farmer who lived at Parham Hall in Suffolk.

Crabbe was appointed curate in Stathern in 1785 for four years by the Rector, Dr Parke, who was Archdeacon of Stamford. In a letter to the Duke of Rutland the Revd. George Crabbe expressed his views on the village of Stathern, and his disappointment at being given the curacy at Stathern.

1785, September 29, Stathern---- “---- Your grace having indulged me by hearing me speak of my own affairs, I take the liberty of informing you that Lord Thurlow keeps me yet in suspense, neither giving the living I applied for in exchange for any other, nor giving me any other reason to hope for it……if he does in this instance refuse me, he will certainly consent, whenever it becomes absolutely necessary, to me exchanging with some person in your Grace’s neighbourhood……I believe I could at this time make an agreement, though something disadvantageous, with a clergyman within a few miles of me.

“I have to beg your pardon, my Lord, for dwelling longer on this selfish subject than I intended, and once more to thank your Grace for your very kind permission for my returning to Belvoir, should we find Stathern very unhealthy. At present we are well but are much threatened by reports that in the winter we shall be troubled with agues, impassable roads, and the petty larcenies of my poor parishioners; but I have hope, as your Grace’s wood is so convenient for them, that they will not be so wicked as to steal from their master what his patron can so amply supply them with”

Despite initially not wanting to stay in Stathern, George Crabbe’s four years here were said to be some of the happiest of his life. Three of his children were baptised here – George baptised 16th November 1785, John Waldren baptised 13th October 1787, and Sarah Susannah baptised 23rd January 1789. It is said that while at Stathern Crabbe wrote thousands of lines of poetry, as well as looking after the spiritual and physical needs of his parishioners and gathering flowers and herbs from the woods to cure their ills. If a parishioner was ill and asked his advice he would remark, “If I can’t cure you then I can always bury you”.

It is also said that during his frequent trips back to Suffolk he would collect seeds and scatter them in the hedgerows in the Vale area. Later, in 1795, he contributed to the “Fauna, Flora and Fossils in the Vale of Belvoir” which is an appendix in Nicholls “History and Antiquities of Leicestershire. He particularly had an extensive knowledge of beetles.

In February 1789 Crabbe moved to Muston and Allington for three years. Leaving curates in charge of these parishes, the family lived for 13 years in Suffolk where the Crabbe family inherited an estate, returning to Muston in October 1805. By then Mrs Crabbe had suffered a nervous disorder, having given birth to seven children of whom only two survived. She died there on 21st September 1813 and a plaque in the church commemorates her.

In 1814 George Crabbe was presented with livings in Trowbridge Wiltshire where he lived for the rest of his life, and Croxton Kerrial. Thereafter he travelled widely in England, met many well-known writers and poets, wrote poetry and studied flowers and herbs. His reputation as poet had made him a distinguished guest amongst the literary society.

In 1790 George Crabbe was first prescribed opium to relieve pain and used it for the rest of his life with no apparent detriment to his health.

He died at Trowbridge on the 3rd February 1832 aged 77, when complications set in after he caught a severe cold