Henry J. Crocker

Henry J. Crocker (1861[1] – 11 October 1912[2]) was a prominent San Franciscan businessman, one of the Committee of Fifty formed after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake; he was also a noted philatelist.

A portrait of Crocker in 1895
A 2c Hawaiian Missionary stamp of 1851

Business career

Crocker was born in Sacramento in 1861 and moved to San Francisco in 1874.[1] He was the son of Clarke Crocker and a nephew of Charles B. Crocker, a railway magnate.[3]

In 1879 he started work with Sisson, Wallace & Co., beginning a successful business career that lead to directorships of numerous firms and the acquisition of great wealth. He was President of the Central Gaslight Company and a Director of the San Francisco Stockyards. He and his wife, Mary Ives Crocker, owned large estates in California including a winery.[1][3]

In 1898, Crocker was one of the founders of The West Side Flume & Lumber Company.[4]

Crocker was President of the American National Bank and the Refining and Producing Oil Company of San Francisco. In 1903 he stood for the office of Mayor of San Francisco, but was unsuccessful.[3]

Following the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, Crocker was one of the Committee of Fifty prominent citizens formed by the Mayor to deal with the crisis.

Philately

Crocker was one of the founders of the Pacific Philatelic Society in 1884.[5]

He had a notable collection of the famous Hawaiian Missionary stamps, the first stamps of Hawaii. Part of Crocker's collection was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake but important Missionary stamps were saved as they were on display in Britain at the time.

Crocker was entered on the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in 1921 as one of the "Fathers of Philately".

Other interests

Crocker was an equestrian, he was one of the founders of the Pacific Jockey Club[6] and was credited with restoring the fortunes of the San Francisco Olympic Club, of which he was elected President in 1891.[1] His club memberships were numerous including The Family, the Pacific Union Club and others. He was a Mason and described as a "Knight Templar" and a Native Son.[1] A section of a stained glass window is dedicated to his memory at the Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.

Publications
  • Hawaiian Numerals a Compilation of Unofficial Data Relating to the Type-Set Stamps of the Kingdom of Hawaii. San Francisco: Henry J. Crocker, 1909.
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References
  1. Personnel of San Francisco's Grand Jury The San Francisco Call, 26 April 1895, p. 8. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  2. "Death of Mr. H. J. Crocker." in The London Philatelist, Vol. XXI, No. 251, November 1912, p. 301.
  3. Guide to the Mary Virginia Ives Crocker Papers, 1876-1910. Online Archive of California, 2001. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  4. The West Side Lumber Company. pacificng.com, 2009. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  5. History. Archived 2011-06-13 at the Wayback Machine Western Philatelic Library. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  6. A Lap Around the Old Track. foundsf.org, 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.

Further reading

Melville, Fred. "Postage Stamps of the Hawaiian Islands in the Collection of Henry J. Crocker of San Francisco" in Stamp Lover, 1908.

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