ed. 1872. 3. ‘Simple Prayers’ 1870. 4. ‘Aemilius: a Tale of the Decian and Valerian Persecutions,’ 1871. 5. ‘Evanus: a Tale of the Days of Constantine the Great,’ 1872, 1885. 6. ‘The Garden of Life’ (a devotional primer), Oxford, 1873. 7. ‘Edwy the Fair; or, the First Chronicle of Aescendune,’ 1874; 5th ed. 1885. 8. ‘Alfgar the Dane’ (a sequel to 7), 1874. 9. ‘The Camp on the Severn,’ 1875. 10. ‘The Andreds-Weald’ (a tale of the Norman Conquest), 1877. 11. ‘The Rival Heirs,’ 1882. 12. ‘Fairleigh Hall’ (great rebellion in Oxfordshire), 1882. 13. ‘The Last Abbot of Glastonbury,’ 1884. 14. ‘The Victor's Laurel,’ 1885. 15. ‘The Doomed City’ (temp. St. Augustine), 1885. 16. ‘The House of Walderne,’ 1886. 17. ‘Brian FitzCount, a Story of Wallingford Castle,’ 1887. 18. ‘Yule Log Stories,’ 1887. 19. ‘Stories from Old English History,’ 1887. 20. ‘The Heir of Treherne.’
He edited ‘Offices for the Hours of Prime, Sext, and Compline; with special Antiphons and Chapters for the Seasons of the Church,’ Oxford, 1871, 8vo. Crake was moreover joint-editor with Joseph Oldknow of the ‘Priest's Book of Private Devotion’ (Oxford, 1872, numerous editions).
[Guardian, 29 Jan. 1890; Church Times, 24 Jan. 1890; Athenæum, 1890, i. 150; Crockford's Clerical Directory; Allibone's Dict. of English Literature; Crake's Works.]
CRAMPTON, THOMAS RUSSELL (1816–1888), railway engineer, was born at Broadstairs, Kent, on 6 Aug. 1816, and, after receiving a private school education, was articled on 21 May 1831 to John Hague, a well-known engineer of Cable Street, Wellclose Square, London, where he had Sir Frederick Bramwell as a fellow-student. After serving his time he acted from 1839 to 1844 as assistant to the elder Brunei, and subsequently to (Sir) Daniel Gooch, under whose directions he prepared the drawings for the first locomotive for the Great Western Railway. Four years were then spent under John and George Rennie, until, in 1848, Crampton commenced business on his own account as a civil engineer. In the battle of the gauges he took an active part in favour of the narrow gauge. Between 1842 and 1848 he made improvements in the details of locomotive machinery, and in 1843 he embodied his main ideas in the design of an engine, which he patented and which bears .his name. The characteristic features of the Crampton engine are a long boiler, outside .cylinders set in the middle of the engine's length, and large driving wheels placed quite in the rear of the firebox. His ideas were expounded at length in an important paper read before the Institution of Civil Engineers, 24 April 1849, 'Upon the Construction of Locomotive Engines, especially with respect to those Modifications which enable additional Power to be gained without materially increasing the Weight or unduly elevating the Centre of Gravity.' He stated that, owing to the extraordinary increase of traffic on some of the principal railways, it had been found necessary to employ engines of much greater power and consequently greater weight than those hitherto used ; while at the same time the adoption of large driving wheels rendered the engines very lofty and seriously impaired their stability. To obviate these defects Crampton designed an engine, the ' Liverpool,' which was built in 1848 by Bury, Curtis, & Kennedy for the London and North-Western line. The boiler had three hundred tubes, the driving wheels were eight feet in diameter, and the weight was thirty-five tons. The special features were a low centre of gravity, accessibility of working parts, and very liberal bearing surfaces. It hauled 180 tons at fifty miles an hour, and was without doubt the most powerful engine of its time, surpassing in this respect Trevithick's 'Cornwall' of 1847 [see Trevithick, Richard]. It was shown at the Great Exhibition of 1851, and gained the gold medal. Unfortunately its weight was too great for the permanent way of the period, and on this account it was opposed by Stephenson and Brunei, and was with-drawn in 1852. The 'machine Crampton' was, however, adopted by the 'Compagnie du Nord' of France in 1848, and for forty years from this date the light express trains of the Northern and Eastern railways of France were worked by these engines. As a recognition of the value of his design Crampton was made an officer of the legion of honour by Napoleon III in 1855.
The most distinguished work of Crampton's professional life was perhaps the laying in 1851 of the first practical submarine cable between Dover and Calais. After the failure of a previous cable laid by Brett in 1850, a second cable was prepared in 1851 ; but the laying was surrounded by serious difficulties, pecuniary and otherwise. The period of concession was within seven weeks of expiration when Crampton, contributing with his friends the capital required, undertook the responsibility. He devised a new method of sheathing the cable, which was laid in the Blazer during the early part of September, and the operations were success-
