Rev'd George
Crabbe (below), grandson of the well -known poet of the
same name. George Crabbe the rector of Merton for 34
yrs. The Lych-gate at the church with inscriptions "
In loving memory of rev'd George Crabbe died Aug 7th 1884
aged 65. Also
Emily his wife, died Jan 7th 1854 aged 23. Also Anna
eldest daughter, died Sept 18th 1868 aged 16. Erected to
there memory by the surviving child Emily Rivett Carnac, died March 22nd
1894 aged 40, Whom is buried next to her sister at the cemetery Brighton.
Rev'd
Crabbe lived at Merton rectory, although named as such
the rectory curiously stands in the parish of the next
village of Thompson, unusual for a country rectory. It
would appear that when one of the late lord Walsinghams
exchanged his Copdock property for the Hales Took estate in Thompson,
there was on this latter property a good house standing near Thompson
water used as a shooting box. His Lord ship, having no use for this ,
when the exchange took place and a new rectory house being required at
Merton, decided to move the bricks and timber to rebuild in Merton. However, when the removal
commenced, some flaw was discovered in the title of the
Thompson estate; therefore the old house could not be
taken out of the parish .it was dumped down on the
confines of Thompson adjacent to Merton. The rectory
stands close to Wayland Wood, which holds the story of
" The Babes in the Woods ".
At the rectory, Edward J Fitzgerald ( below ) a poet and
the translator of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, ( Omar
Khayyam, the astronomer-poet of Persia below ).
Fitzgerald visited the Rev'd Crabbe and spent many hours
pouring over the lines of the Persian sage and listening
to the songs of the bird kingdom.
Edward Fitzgerald's connection with the Crabbe family
commenced at Bredfield where Fitzgerald lived. George
Crabbe the second the son of the poet, being the vicar.
Fitzgerald and the vicar became firm friends; both were
eccentric, the vicars saying and doings appealing vastly
to the Suffolk recluse. When Crabbe died the friendship
was transferred to the son ( Rev'd George Crabbe )
The day before Fitzgerald's death he wrote to a friend,
" Tomorrow i am going for a visit to George Crabbe at
Merton, where i am to meet his sisters and talk over old
Bredfield days ". Edward Fitzgerald died at Merton
with his old friend by his side........ He lies across
the boarder at Boulge in Suffolk
