Roger Crab

Roger Crab, as pictured in an 1813 edition of James Caulfield's Portraits, memoirs, and characters of remarkable persons, from the reign of Edward the Third, to the Revolution

Roger Crab (1621 – 11 September 1680)[1] was an English soldier, haberdasher, herbal doctor and writer who is best known for his ascetic lifestyle which included Christian vegetarianism. Crab fought in the Parliamentary Army in the English Civil War before becoming a haberdasher in Chesham. He later became a hermit and worked as a herbal doctor. He then joined the Philadelphians and began promoting asceticism through his writings.

Early life

Crab was born in Buckinghamshire in 1621. At the time of his birth his mother had an annual income of £20.[2] As a young man, he began trying to find a way to live a perfect life. In 1641 he ceased eating meat, dairy and eggs. He also chose to be celibate.[3]

At the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642, he joined the Parliamentary Army under Oliver Cromwell. During one battle he received a serious head wound from a sword. During his time as a soldier, he was at one point sentenced to death by Cromwell. He was later sentenced to two years in prison by Parliament. Christopher Hill has suggested that Crab was involved with the Levellers in the late 1640s and was imprisoned as a result.[3]

Career

After leaving the military Crab moved to Chesham. There he began working as a haberdasher. He continued this work between 1649 and 1652. In 1652 he moved to Ickenham lived as a hermit. Believing that profit was sinful, he gave away almost all of his possessions before moving. He built up a practice as a herbal doctor, advising his patients avoid meat and alcohol. He was a popular doctor among the village women. However, he was accused of witchcraft by a clergyman, possibly due to prophecies he issued. He attempted to live modestly, wearing homemade sackcloth clothes.[3] He moved to Bethnal Green in 1657. There he joined the Philadelphians, a group founded by John Pordage.[4]

Views

He was an anti-sabbatarian. He did not observe Sunday as a non-working day, and was put in the stocks for it.[5] He was a pacifist, and had radical views on the evils of property, the Church and universities.[6]

Crab ate a vegan diet from 1641 until his death in 1680. He initially included potatoes and carrots in his diet, but later gave them up in favour of a diet of mostly bran and turnips. Later in his life he ate only Rumex and grass, claiming to spend of 3/4 d. per week on food. Late in his life he added parsnips to his diet.[3]

He might be the inspiration for Lewis Carroll's The Mad Hatter.[2]

Works

Crab wrote his autobiography while living in Ickenham.,[1]

A Reply to the Gentle Correction was made:

Epitaph

His tombstone has the following epitaph:

Tread gently, reader, near the dust
Committed to this tomb-stone's trust:
For while 'twas flesh, it held a guest
With universal love possest:
A soul that stemmed opinion's tide,
Did over sects in triumph ride;
Yet separate from the giddy crowd,
And paths tradition had allowed.
Through good and ill reports he past,
Oft censured, yet approved at last.
Wouldst thou his religion know?
In brief 'twas this: to all to do
Just as he would be done unto.
So in kind Nature's law he stood,
A temple, undefiled with blood,
A friend to everything that 's good.
The rest angels alone can fitly tell;
Haste then to them and him; and so farewell!'[9]

References

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 Bowlt 2007, p. 101–102
  2. 1 2 Hill 1958, p. 282
  3. 1 2 3 4 Hill 1958, p. 283
  4. Hill 1958, p. 305
  5. Stuart 2006, p. 26
  6. Hill 1958, p. 307
  7. For the full text, see Harleian Miscellany, Vol. 6 (Robert Dutton, London 1810), pp. 390–405.
  8. Hill 1992, p. 262
  9. Hill 1958, p. 310

Bibliography

External links

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