Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Cruttwell, Charles Thomas
CRUTTWELL, CHARLES THOMAS (1847–1911), historian of Roman literature, born in London on 30 July 1847, eldest son of Charles James Cruttwell, barrister-at-law, of the Inner Temple, by his wife Elizabeth Anne, daughter of Admiral Thomas Sanders. Educated under James Augustus Hessey [q. v.] at Merchant Taylors' School (1861–6), he proceeded with a foundation scholarship to St. John's College, Oxford, in 1866. There he greatly distinguished himself. Placed in the first class in classical moderations in 1868 and in literæ humaniores in 1870, he obtained the Pusey and Ellerton Hebrew scholarship in 1869, won the Craven scholarship for classics in 1871, and the Kennicott Hebrew scholarship in 1872. He graduated B.A. in 1871, proceeding M.A. in 1874, and was classical moderator (1873–5). Meanwhile he was elected fellow of Merton College in 1870, and was tutor there 1874–7. Ordained deacon by the bishop of Oxford in 1875 and priest in 1876, he was curate of St. Giles's, Oxford, from 1875 till 1877.
In 1877 Cruttwell left Oxford for Bradfield College, where he was headmaster till 1880. In that year he passed to the headmastership of Malvern College. But despite his efficient scholarship he showed little aptitude for public school administration, and resigned in 1885 to become rector of Sutton, Surrey. A few months later he was appointed rector of St. Denton, Norfolk, and in 1891 he accepted from Merton College the benefice of Kibworth-Beauchamp in succession to Dr. Knox, afterwards bishop of Manchester. While at Kibworth he was also rector of Smeeton-Westerby, Leicestershire (1891–4), rural dean of Gartree (1892–1902), examining chaplain to the bishop of Peterborough (1900), and proctor in convocation (1900). In 1901 he was nominated by Lord Salisbury to the crown benefice of Ewelme, near Wallingford, and in 1903 he was collated by the bishop of Peterborough to a residential canonry, which being of small value could be held with a benefice. Cruttwell was also select preacher to Oxford University in 1896–8, and again in 1903–5. In 1909 he joined the party of bishops and clergy who visited Germany in the cause of international peace. He died at Ewelme on 4 April 1911.
Deeply read in ancient and modern literature, Cruttwell published little. The best of his books, 'A History of Roman Literature' (London and Edinburgh, 1877), was a concise yet satisfying account of the development of Roman literature from the earliest times till the death of Marcus Aurelius. Other contributions to Latin literary history were 'Specimens of Roman Literature' (Glasgow, 1879, in collaboration with the Rev. Peake Banton), and 'A Literary History of Early Christianity' (2 vols. 1893). He also published 'The Saxon Church and Norman Conquest' (1909) and 'Six Lectures on the Oxford Movement' (1899).
Cruttwell married on 5 Aug. 1884 Anne Maude, eldest daughter of Sir John Robert Mowbray, first baronet [q. v. Suppl. I], by whom he had three sons and one daughter.
[Who's Who, 1911; Crockford's Clerical Directory, 1911; The Times, 5 April 1911; Lodge's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 1911.]