CROCKFORD, WILLIAM proprietor of Crockford's Club, was born in London in 1775, the son of a fish monger, and for some time himself carried on that business. After winning a large sum of money (according to one story £Ioo,000) either at cards or by running a gambling establishment, he built, in 1827, a luxurious gambling house at 5o St. James's street, which, to ensure exclusiveness, he organized as a club. Crockford's quickly became the rage; every English social celebrity and every distinguished foreigner visiting London hastened to become a member. Hazard was the favourite game, and very large sums changed hands. Crockford retired in 184o, when, in the expres sive language of Capt. R. H. Gronow, he had "won the whole of the ready money of the then existing generation." He took, in deed, about /1,200,000 out of the club, but subsequently lost most of it in speculations. Crockford died on May 24, See John Timbs, Club Life of London (1866) ; R. H. Gronow, Celebrities of London and Paris, 3rd series (1865).