Frederick Nicholls Crouch

Frederick William Nicholls Crouch (30 July 1808 – 18 August 1896) was an English composer and cellist. Early life and Civil War Crouch was born in Marylebone in the city of Westminster, in London. He emigrated to the United States in 1841 and eventually settled in Richmond, Virginia. During the Civil War, Crouch took up arms for the Richmond Grays and the 1st Richmond Howitzers, Confederacy. Music career Crouch was noted as a fine cellist, having played in the King’s Theatre as well as St Paul’s Cathedral in London, before relocating to the United States, but the majority of his compositions were not successful. His most famous song is “Kathleen Mavourneen”. It inspired several films. Clara Mulholland wrote the novel Kathleen Mavourneen published in 1890. Marie Doran wrote the four act play Kathleen Mavourneen published in 1918. He set the poem Donna Dear a by the British poet Katherine Ashton Simpson to music. During his years in the United States, Crouch composed two operas and unsuccessfully tried various musical undertakings (i.e., conducting, singing and teaching). Well traveled after the Civil War, Crouch eventually settled in Baltimore, Maryland. He was married four times, a