Annie Crossley Clough

If you look closely at the Crossley family tree, you will see, on the bottom row, Anne Crossley Clough, daughter of Charlotte Ann Crossley (1799-1831) and Robert Clough, and 'author of Cranleigh of Cranleigh'. About 10 years ago, I began to search for this rare book, written by Crossley's niece, but could locate only one copy, in the British Library. I eventually tracked down another copy, through Internet searches, in a San Francisco bookshop, and immediately bought it. Since then, the BL has released the text, along with many thousands of others, and it is freely available from Amazon and other booksellers. This is a good thing of course, but I little imagined that such an obscure title would be reprinted and on sale. It's a fairly light country house tale, with a slightly moralising tone, but certainly worth a read especially if you're interested, as I am, in the pedigree of the author. My copy is signed in pencil, and contains a dedication to James Crossley, which makes it all the more interesting.

Annie also wrote poetry and song lyrics, as well as short stories, many of which were published in the US, often under the initials A.C.C. One example, which is still to be found in song catalogues is curiously titled Big Ben Song no. 1 in B minor for Low Voice with music by Henry Theodore Pontet (1833-1902), first published in Boston, 1892. As can be seen from the dedication to Cranleigh of Cranleigh, Annie was very proud of her uncle, and eventually became the executrix of his will. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that her feelings were reciprocated, but I like to think that he looked upon her in a kindly, avuncular way.