John Cranke

Who was John Cranke?

John Cranke was an English scientific thinker and clergyman, particularly notable for starting a scientific genealogy producing some eight Nobel Prize winners in total. Cranke was admitted as a sizar at the age of 21 into Trinity College, University of Cambridge on July 1, 1767, after graduating from Sedbergh School. His father was James Cranke, a notable artist who has an entry in Redgrave's Century of English Painters.

At the University of Cambridge, John Cranke obtained a BA in 1771, an MA in 1774, and a BD in 1792. He became a Fellow of Trinity College in 1772. At Trinity he acted as a tutor in mathematics and is notable as the mentor of Thomas Jones. In 1774, he became the curate of the Chesterton parish, in Cambridgeshire, and the parish curate of Great St Mary's, Cambridgeshire, 1784-1792. He was vicar of the Shudy Camps parish, Cambridgeshire, 1792-1798, then Vicar of Gainford, Durham, during 1798-1816. He died September 6, 1816.