Crab, ROGER

Crab, ROGER, hermit, was born about 1621 in Buckinghamshire, and served for seven years (1642-49) in the Parliamentary army. He then set up in business as 'a haberdasher of hats' at Chesham, in his native county. He had imbibed the idea that it was sinful to eat any kind of animal food, or to drink anything stronger than water; and in 1651, determined to follow literally the injunction given to the young man in the gospel, he sold off his stock-in-trade, distributing the proceeds among the poor, and took up his residence in a hut. His food consisted of bran, turnip-tops, dock-leaves, and grass. The persecutions the poor man inflicted on himself caused him to be persecuted by others, cudgelled, and put in the stocks. He was four times imprisoned for sabbath-breaking and other offences, yet still he persisted in his course of life. He published The English Hermit, Dagon's Downfall, and a tract against Quakerism; and he died at Bethnal Green, 11th September 1680.