Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 13.djvu/13

 law in enlisting soldiers in the United States, declared nevertheless that Crampton and three English consuls, who had been active in the proceedings, must be recalled, and on 28 May 1856 President Pierce broke off diplomatic relations with the English minister. Crampton at once returned to England, and rumours of a war became rife, especially as a large reinforcement was sent to the North American squadron by Lord Palmerston. Mr. Marcy justified the conduct of his government in an elaborate despatch, in which he argued that Crampton had been ‘from the beginning the prime mover in a scheme which he had full means of knowing was contrary to the law of the United States;’ and that ‘Mr. Crampton had continued the recruiting after it had been pronounced unlawful, and in fact did not desist until commanded by his government so to do.’ The British nation was certainly not inclined to go to war on account of the personal affront to Crampton, and so, in spite of Lord Palmerston's threatening attitude, he had to consent to the appointment of a successor at Washington. Nevertheless Lord Palmerston insisted on rewarding Crampton, who was made a K.C.B. on 20 Sept. 1856 and appointed minister plenipotentiary and envoy extraordinary at Hanover on 2 March 1857. He was transferred to the embassy at St. Petersburg on 31 March 1858, and succeeded his father as second baronet on 10 June of the same year. On 31 March 1860 he married Victoire [see ], second daughter of Michael Balfe, the composer, from whom he was divorced in 1863, and on 11 Dec. 1860 he was appointed minister plenipotentiary and envoy extraordinary at Madrid. He remained there until 1 July 1869, when he retired on a pension, after more than forty years' diplomatic service. He died, at the age of eighty-one, at his seat, Bushey Park, near Bray, co. Wicklow, on 5 Dec. 1886.

[Foreign Office List; Foster's Baronetage; and the newspapers of 1856 for the dispute regarding his conduct at Washington.]  CRAMPTON, PHILIP (1777–1858), surgeon, descended from a Nottinghamshire family settled in Ireland in Charles II's reign, was born at Dublin on 7 June 1777. He studied medicine in Dublin, early entered the army medical service, and left it in 1798, when he was elected surgeon to the Meath Hospital, Dublin. In 1800 he graduated in medicine at Glasgow. He soon after commenced to teach anatomy in private lectures, and maintained a dissecting-room behind his own house. His success was marked, both in his private and in his hospital teaching. He was an excellent operator and an attractive practitioner, being ready in resource, successful in prescribing, and cultivated in medical science. He was for many years surgeon-general to the forces in Ireland and surgeon in ordinary to the queen, a member of the senate of the Queen's University, and three times president of the Dublin College of Surgeons. In 1839 Crampton was created a baronet. After retaining a large medical and surgical practice almost to the close of his life, he died on 10 June 1858, being succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son, John Fiennes Crampton [q. v.], then British ambassador in Russia.

Crampton was much interested in zoology, and in 1813 published in Thomson's ‘Annals of Philosophy’ (i. 170) a ‘Description of an Organ by which the Eyes of Birds are accommodated to different distances,’ for which he was shortly after elected F.R.S. He was prominent in the foundation of the Royal Zoological Society of Ireland, and secured the grant to it of the ground in the Phœnix Park.

[Freeman's Journal, 11 June 1858; Lancet, 19 June 1858, p. 618; Dict. Encyclopédique des Sciences Médicales, vol. xxii. Paris, 1879.] 

CRAMPTON, VICTOIRE, (1837–1871), singer, second daughter of Michael William Balfe [q. v.], was born in the Rue de la Victoire, Paris, 1 Sept. 1837, and evincing a passionate taste for music, even when a child, received early and able instruction in that science. She entered the Conservatoire de Musique while very young, and studied the pianoforte for about two years. She was then removed to London and placed under the care of Sterndale Bennett. In the meanwhile her father watched and carefully trained her voice. Her vocal studies were at first entirely superintended by him, but when it appeared that her organ was developing into a pure soprano, in 1853, the assistance of Emmanuel Garcia was secured. In a short time she acquired a perfect mastery over her voice, and a visit to Italy and a series of practising lessons from Signor Busti and Signor Celli completed her education. When eighteen years of age she again studied in Italy, and afterwards returning to London, made her appearance under Frederick Gye's management at the Lyceum Theatre on 28 May 1857. Her character was Amina in ‘Sonnambula,’ and a more successful début could scarcely be imagined. Her voice proved to be a high soprano, fresh and pure in quality, ranging from low C to C in alt, and remarkable for its great flexibility and even sweetness through-