buried at Childerditch (Probate Act Book, P.C.C., 1760; Gent. Mag. 1760, p. 394). He had married, but left no children. By his will (P.C.C. 324, Lynch) he bequeathed property for founding exhibitions at Magdalene College, preference to be given to clergymen's sons from Essex. He provided for the payment of six pounds a year to the succeeding vicars of Childerditch for ever, that they might go to the college on St. Mary Magdalen's day, 22 July, 'when the publick benefactions are read over,' to see that his exhibitions were filled in, the profits of such as were vacant to go to the vicar. Groome also gave his library to Magdalene College.
[Authorities as above.]
GROOME, ROBERT HINDES (1810–1889), archdeacon of Suffolk, born at Framlingham on 18 Jan. 1810, was the second son of the Rev. John Hindes Groome, formerly fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge, and rector for twenty-seven years of Earl Soham and Monk Soham in Suffolk. He was educated at Norwich under Valpy and Howes, and at Caius College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1832, and M.A. in 1836. In 1833 he was ordained to the Suffolk curacy of Tannington-with-Brundish; during 1835 travelled in Germany as tutor to the son of Mendizabal, the Spanish financier; in 1839 became curate of Corfe Castle, Dorsetshire, of which little borough he was for a twelvemonth mayor; and in 1845 succeeded his father as rector of Monk Soham. Here, in the course of four-and-forty years, he built the rectory and the village school, restored the fine old church, erected an organ, and rehung the bells. In 1858 he was appointed an honorary canon of Norwich, and from 1869 to 1887 was archdeacon of Suffolk. Failing eyesight forced him to resign that office, when 186 clergy of the diocese presented him with his portrait by Mr. W. R. Symonds. He died at Monk Soham on 19 March 1889.
Groome was a man of wide culture and of many friends. Chief among these were Edward Fitzgerald, William Bodham Donne, Dr. Thompson, the master of Trinity, and Bradshaw, the Cambridge librarian, who said of him: 'I never see Groome but what I learn something from him.' He read much, but published little—a couple of charges, one or two sermons and lectures, some hymns and hymn-tunes, and articles in the 'Christian Advocate and Review,' of which he was editor from 1861 to 1866. He will be best remembered by his short Suffolk stories, 'The Only Darter,' 'Master Charlie,' &c., a collection of which appeared shortly after his death. For real humour and tenderness these come near to 'Rab and his Friends.' In 1843 he married Mary, third daughter of the Rev. J. L. Jackson, rector of Swanage, and Louisa Decima Wollaston. She bore him eight children, and, with four sons and two daughters, survived him.
[Obituary in Ipswich Journal, East Anglian Times, the Times and Guardian; Letters and Remains of Edward Fitzgerald.]
GROSE, FRANCIS (1731?–1791), antiquary and draughtsman, born about 1731 at Greenford, Middlesex, was the eldest son of Francis Grose or Grosse (d. 1769) by his wife Ann, daughter of Thomas Bennett of Kingston, Oxfordshire. The elder Grose, a native of Berne in Switzerland, came to England early in the eighteenth century (pedigree in the College of Arms), and was a well-to-do jeweller living at Richmond in Surrey. He fitted up the coronation crown of George III, and collected prints and shells, which were sold in 1770. The younger Grose received a classical education, but did not proceed to a university. He studied art in Shipley's drawing school, and was in 1766 a member of the Incorporated Society of Artists, and in 1768 exhibited with the society a stained drawing, 'High Life below Stairs.' In 1769 and following years he exhibited at the Royal Academy tinted drawings, chiefly of architectural remains. Grose illustrated many of his own works, and some of his original drawings are in the British Museum (Fagan, Handbook to Dept. of Prints, p. 193). From 12 June 1755 till 1763 he was Richmond herald. He then became adjutant and paymaster in the Hampshire militia. He said his only account-books were his right and left hand pockets: into one he put what he received, and from the other he paid out. His father left him a fortune, which he soon spent. From 1778 (or earlier) till his death he was captain and adjutant of the Surrey militia. In 1773 he published the first number of his 'Antiquities of England and Wales,' &c., and completed the work in 1787 (London, 4 vols. folio; new ed. 8 vols., London [1783-] 1797, 4to). Many of the drawings were made by himself, but in the letterpress he was helped by other antiquaries. In the summer of 1789 he set out for a tour in Scotland. He was kindly entertained by Robert Riddell, the antiquary, and at his seat, Friars Carse, made the acquaintance of Burns. The poet wrote on Grose's 'Peregrinations through Scotland, collecting the Antiquities of that kingdom,' the genial verses 'Hear, Land o' Cakes, and brither Scots,' in which occur the lines:
A chield's amang you taking notes,
And, faith, he'll prent it.
