Crossley

Frederick Herbert Crossley FSA (2 August 1868 – 6 January 1955), known as Fred Crossley or Fred H. Crossley, was a British wood carver, designer and an authority on Medieval English architecture, church furnishings and also timberwork. Together with Thomas Rayson, he designed the Chester War Memorial in the grounds of Chester Cathedral and later worked on the restoration of the Cathedral Refectory, designing and overseeing the installation of its new roof. Crossley published extensively and, in 1946, a study of Welsh rood screens he undertook in conjunction with Maurice Ridgway was awarded the G. T. Clark prize. At one point Crossley lived at Shavington Avenue, Hoole.

Crossley was born in Yorkshire in 1868, moving to Cheshire in 1887. He started his working career as a farm apprentice near Knutsford but, after taking local courses in wood carving, he gave up farming and pursued this interest for the rest of his life. He attended the Manchester School of Art during the 1890s undertaking further studies in wood carving, drawing and design. In 1898 Crossley was appointed a teacher of drawing and wood carving by Cheshire County Council. He also undertook commissions for wood carvings and examples of his work can be seen in various churches in Cheshire at Over Peover, Bunbury and Plemstall. In Crossley's obituary for the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, the author, Percy Culverwell Brown, refers to the fact that Crossley became an "ardent photographer" and, in the obituary for The Antiquaries Journal, he is described as "easily the finest photographer of architectural detail of his time". Not only did Crossley use his photographs, together with plans and drawings he executed, in his books and articles, but was generous in making prints available to students. In 1932 he donated his large collection of negatives, totalling some 10,000, to The Courtauld Institute of Art in London where his photographs are held in the Conway Library.