Richard Croker

Biography

He was born in the townland of Ballyva, in the parish of Ardfield, six miles south of Clonakilty in County Cork on November 24, 1843, son of Eyre Coote Croker (1800-1881) and Frances Laura Welsted (1807-1894). He was taken to the United States by his parents when he was just two years old. They boarded at the Henry Clay in Cobh, County Cork and headed for the land of opportunity.

There were significant differences between this family and the typical family leaving Ireland at that time. They were Protestant, and were not land tenants. Eyre Coote Croker owned an estate in Ardfield, in south west Cork. Upon arrival in the United States, Eyre Coote Croker was without a profession, however he had a general knowledge of horses and soon became a veterinary surgeon. During the Civil War, he served in that same capacity under General Daniel Sickles.

Richard Croker was educated in New York public schools. He joined one of the Volunteer Fire Department in 1863, becoming an engineer of one of the engine companies. That was his gateway into public life. He eventually became a member of Tammany Hall and active in its politics. He was an alderman from 1868-70, a Coroner of New York County, New York from 1873-76. He moved to Harrison, New York by 1880, then he was the New York City Fire Commissioner in 1883 and 1887, and city Chamberlain from 1889-90.

After the death of John Kelly he became the leader of Tammany Hall, and for some time almost completely controlled that organization. As head of Tammany, Croker received bribe money from the owners of brothels, saloons and illegal gambling dens. He survived Charles Henry Parkhurst's attacks on Tammany Hall's corruption and became a wealthy man.

Croker's greatest political success was his bringing about the 1897 election of Robert A. Van Wyck as first mayor of the five-borough "greater" New York, and during Van Wyck's administration Croker is popularly supposed to have completely dominated the government of the city. After Croker's failure to carry the city in the presidential election of 1900 and the defeat of his mayoralty candidate, Edward M. Shepard in 1901, he resigned from his position of leadership in Tammany and was succeeded by Lewis Nixon. Afterwards, Croker retired. He departed the United States in 1905.

Thoroughbred racing

Croker operated a stable of thoroughbred racehorses in the United States in partnership with Mike Dwyer. In January 1895 they sent a stable of horses to England under the care of trainer Hardy Campbell, Jr. and jockey Willie Simms. Following a dispute, the partnership was dissoved in May but Croker continued to race in England.

In 1907, his horse Orby won Britain's most prestigious race, the Epsom Derby. Orby was ridden by American jockey John Reiff whose brother Lester had won the race in 1901. Croker was also the breeder of Orby's son Grand Parade who won the Derby in 1919.

Later life and death

Richard Croker married twice. He first married in 1873 to Elizabeth Fraser (b. abt. 1853 in New York, d. 6 September 1914 in Berne, Switzerland). They had several children, including:

He married, secondly, to Beulah Benson Edmondson (1884–1957) in November 1914 when he was 71 years old.

He died on April 29, 1922 in Ireland.

He left an estate estimated to $3–5 million to his second wife, Beulah, disinheriting his estranged children. A note in his handwriting, dated at Glencairn, November 15, 1919 read as follows:

My dear Bula [sic]: I am writing this note for you to keep and in case you should survive me I wish you would give my daughter Florence ten thousand pounds. She is the only one of my surviving children who has ever shown any graditude to me. (Signed) Richard Croker.

This resulted in a celebrated lawsuit in which the children, Richard Croker Jr., Ethel Croker White and Howard Croker, unsuccessfully claimed that their father's second marriage was invalid for bigamy, in that their stepmother was at the relevant time married to another man. They were, however, unable to produce any credible evidence that the gentleman existed. Croker had converted to Catholicism shortly before his death, but this does not appear to have played a role in his disinheriting his children.

Croker's funeral drew some of Dublin's most eminent citizens, The Times (of London) describing it as follows (the 'Alderman Macdonagh' referenced being Joseph MacDonagh:

FUNERAL OF MR. CROKER: - The funeral of Mr. Richard Croker took place yesterday [May 5, 1922], when the body was buried in the grounds of Glencairn House, Mr. Croker's residence in South County, Dublin. After a Requiem Mass in the private oratory, the burial service was conducted by the Right Rev. Dr. W.J. Miller [Roman Catholic Titular Bishop of Eumenia] ... The body was clothed in evening dress, and before the coffin was closed Mrs. Croker desired the mourners to look at her husband's face for the last time. The coffin was covered with a pall made of natural violets and evergreen. The pall-bearers were Mr. Arthur Griffith, President of Dáil Éireann, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Mr. A.H. Flauley, of Chicago, Mr. Oliver Gogarty, Alderman Macdonagh, and Mr. J.E. Tierney. Mr. Michael Collins, Chairman of the Provisional Government, was represented by Mr. Kevin O'Shiel. Mr. James MacMahon, British Under-Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, was also in attendance.