George Crofts
| George Crofts | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:Crofts, George.jpg | |||||
| Born | 1871 | ||||
| Died | 1925 | ||||
| Residence | c/o Messrs Crofts & Co, Tientsin, China [A63] | ||||
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Contents
Notes
Office Notes
House Notes
1924.04.15 proposed by C.G. Seligman, seconded by E.N. Fallaize
death reported in Report of the Council for 1925
Notes From Elsewhere
George Patrick Joseph Crofts was born in London, England in 1871. He was a fur trader in China in the early 1900s. He developed a keen interest in Chinese antiquities, and between 1918 and 1924 provided the Royal Ontario Museum with a major collection of Chinese artifacts. In recognition of his contributions to the Museum, he was awarded an honourary doctorate from the University of Toronto in 1922. Crofts returned to England in 1924 where he died in 1925.
George Patrick Joseph Crofts was born in Bermondsey, Surrey, on 22 November 1871 to Robert Crofts and Ellen Georgina Barry Crofts, the seventh of eight children. Little is known about his childhood or education, but by 1899 he was already in China, presumably involved with fur trading business in the treaty port of Tientsin. This was his main business and remained in operation until 1924. In 1902 George Crofts married American Margaret Hardie Wilson (1863-1935) in Tientsin.
By 1912, and probably earlier, Crofts was engaged in sourcing antiques for various London dealers including S. M. Franck & Co. S.M. Franck & Co. was a wholesale dealer established since 1883 in the City of London. The company supplied Chinese antiques to both retail dealers and institutions such as the Victoria and Albert Museum. In 1914 Charles Trick Currelly (1876-1957), the founding director of the Royal Ontario Museum, purchased a small selection of Chinese art for the Toronto collection.
..... A labor dispute in 1924 ruined his business and he and Margaret Crofts returned to England, where he died on 5 April 1925 at Kings College Hospital, London at age 53.
Publications
External Publications
House Publications
Related Material Details
RAI Material
Other Material
Royal Ontario Museum: papers, objects he collected
