The devotional writings and historical fiction of English priest and author Augustine David Crake (1836-1899), who wrote for young readers, have been compared to those of John Mason Neale. In Chalgrove, Oxfordshire, where his father maintained a middle-class school, Crake was born on October 1st, 1836. Despite having grown up in a Calvinist home, he switched to the Church of England in 1858 and was baptized. He chose to work as a teacher and graduated from London University in 1864. In 1865, after being consecrated as a deacon by Bishop Samuel Wilberforce, Crake began his professional career. From 1865 until 1878, he served as the second master and priest at Bloxham's All Saints' School. The next year, from 1878 to 1879, he worked as senior curate at St. Michael's in Swanmore, Isle of Wight, before taking a position as vicar at St. Peter's in Havenstreet from 1879 until 1885. From 1885 until 1886, he worked as a chaplain at Moulsford Asylum. Crake started instructing a group of students at Cholsey. At the unfortunate age of 53, he went away on January 18, 1890. Many of his old students from Bloxham attended his burial on January 23 and followed his remains to the Cholsey cemetery where he was put to rest.
