Frank Crocker

Crocker's notice of an application for a music and dancing licence, The Morning Post, London 1897.

Frank Crocker (bapt. 27 March 1863 – 24 October 1904) was a British publican and the owner of the Crown Hotel in St John's Wood, London, which was renamed Crocker's Folly in 1987 in his honour.

Biography Crocker was born in Newton Abbot, Devon, to Francis Crocker, an innkeeper, and Louisa Handford Crocker.

The family initially moved to Exeter, where his father ran the "Dolphin Inn" Before joining his father at the Volunteer, Frank Crocker worked as a furniture salesman. He eventually took ownership of the Volunteer. In 1893, he married Agnes Cooper.

Crocker was a popular and active member of the community. He was active in the Paddington and Marylebone Victuallers' Trade Protection Society and heavily lobbied for a road and footbridge between Aberdeen Place and Salisbury Street. He was also an active freemason and a member of the Paddington Cycling Club, whose headquarters met at his home. He died from complications of heart disease and bronchitis, aged 41, after six months of illness. His funeral brought out hundreds of mourners to see his cortège procession, which was led with a carriage just for his flowers, followed by his coffin carriage and 19 private carriages taking mourners to the cemetery. It was built in 1898, in a Northern Renaissance style, and was previously called "The Crown". It has been claimed that Crocker's ghost haunts the pub.