Richard Hermon Crook

• Born: April 1883 at Birkdale Southport (Ormskirk Registration District)
• Baptism : 1 July 1883 at Birkdale
• Married : 1915 Kathleen Irene Heald
• Retired 1955
• Died :  9 February 1969  Dockway Cottage Grasmere Westmorland (probate)

Richard Hermon Crook was the son of John Crook, merchant and stockbroker, and a member of a well-known Bolton family. Joshua Crook (1779-1849) had founded a cotton spinning and manufacturing business in Blackburn Street, Bolton early in the nineteenth century. His sons Joseph (1809- 1884) and Henry, the grandfather of Richard Crook, took over the running of the firm and made it the second largest employer of labour in the town. Joseph also represented the borough of Bolton in Parliament from 1852 to 1861, being returned three times within this period.

Born in April 1883 at Birkdale, Southport, Richard Hermon Crook was articled in Liverpool before joining Jonathan L Simpson as an assistant. In 1907 he commenced independent practice in Bolton Much local work in both industrial and domestic fields, including several slightly Voysey style houses. He took over Jonathan L Simpson’s practice about 1921. Crook’s only work for William Lever involved alterations to the Bungalow at Rivington including the ballroom of 1922-1925. His chief assistant at the time was Charles Hutton [1905-1955] who later became Master of the Art Workers Guild. In 1925 he was elected a Fellow if the RIBA

 In 1915 he married Irene Heald, a well-read woman who wrote poetry, studied world religions and became a dedicated pacifist. She was the daughter of a solicitor in Wigan solicitor who had eventually moved to Southport. They had one son, John H Crook

After his retirement in 1955 the practice continued as Hermon Crook and Williams, St George’s Road, Bolton. He died on 9 February 1969  at Dockway Cottage, Grasmere, Westmorland

Address
1914-1937 : Richard Hermon Crook, 17 Mawdsley Street Bolton

Residence    
1911 : Formby Southport
nd      : High Bank, Marshdale Road, Heaton, Bolton
1969 : Dockway Cottage, Grasmere, Westmorland (probate)

Obituaries:  Bolton Evening News, 12 February 1969
Reference : RIBA  Biographical File
Reference : Who was Who in Architecture 1914