The Maritime Britain Team have worked with a Southampton based street theatre group called The Sarah Siddons Fan Club Theatre (SSFC) to create a series of short videos. These videos are based on real individuals who lived, visited, and worked in Southampton. Some of these were members of the maritime and shipboard communities of Southampton and others were important merchants and philanthropists. These people appear in the sources we use, and with the aid of the SSFC we have brought these characters to life. John Crook, for example, was a wealthy trader who was well-connected across Southampton. He played an active role in town government and had married into one of the leader merchant families in Southampton (the Capleins) and was involved in privateering activities. He was an active coastal as well as overseas trader. He owned The Dolphin public house, which was identified as one of two prestige high street inns. Yet, by 1591, Crook had lost wealth in his privateering ventures, fallen out with important merchants in Southampton, and was penniless and imprisoned.

For more information on Sarah Siddons Fan Club Theatre follow this link: https://sarahsiddonsfanclub.org.uk/

For information on many of Southampton’s residents follow this link: http://www.tudorrevels.co.uk/

You can find more about Crook’s work in local government here: C. Butler, The Remembrance Books of Richard Goddard 1583, John Crook 1584, Andrew Studeley 1586 (Southampton Records Series, 2022)

The team are grateful to the SSFC and to Dr Cheryl Butler for helping to bring the people in our sources to life.