Wilfred Joseph Cripps

Wilfred Joseph Cripps CB FSA (8 June 1841, London – 26 October 1903, Cirencester) was an antiquarian and a writer on antique silver plate.

Wilfred Joseph Cripps was born into a wealthy family who profited from the wool trade in the Cotswolds and were prominent in Cirencester from the Elizabethan era. His grandfather Joseph Cripps and his father William Cripps were both members of parliament. W. J. Cripps was educated at Kensington Grammar School, King's College London, and Trinity College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1863 and M.A. in 1866. He was called in May 1865 to the bar in the Middle Temple and practised for some years on the Oxford circuit.

In the early 1870s W. J. Cripps began research on old English plate. In 1878 he published Old English Plate, which went through nine editions by 1906 and provided valuable information for buyers of antique plate. In June 1880 he was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. He was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1889 Birthday Honours.

Cripps's expert authority was universally recognised. In October 1880, associated with Sir Philip Cunliffe Owen, he examined by the request of the Russian government the magnificent imperial collection of plate in Russia, and in 1881 he was similarly employed in Sweden and Denmark and at Berlin. In 1880 he was a member of the English sub-commission connected with the Exhibition of Gold and Silver Work at Amsterdam (Athenæum, 28 Feb. 1880, p. 289). Through his efforts valuable replicas of famous objects of artistic workmanship were obtained for the national collections at South Kensington and elsewhere.

Around the site of the forum of Roman Cirencester, Cripps excavated remains of the basilica and other buildings. He served in the royal North Gloucester Militia and retired with the rank of major. He was twice married but left no issue.

Articles

• Notes on Ancient Plate of the Merchant Taylors' Company (privately printed). 1877. 
• "English and Foreign Silverwork". Journ. of Soc. of Arts. 11 May 1883. 
• Report on the Plate at Welbeck Abbey. 1883. 
• "Church Plate and how to describe it". Trans. Bristol and Glouc. Arch. Society. 27 April 1893. 
• "Roman basilica of Corinium at Cirencester". Proc. Soc. Ant., series 2. vol. 17: 201–208. 1899. 
• "Roman Altar and other Sculptured Stones found at Cirencester in April 1899". Proc. Soc. Ant., series 2. vol. 18: 177–184. 1899. 

Books

• Old English Plate. London: J. Murray. 1879. ; 10th edition. 1914. 
• Old French Plate. London: J. Murray. 1880. ; 2nd edition. 1893. 
• College and Corporation Plate. London: J. Murray. 1881. 

• "Review of College and Corporation Plate by Wilfred Joseph Cripps". Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art. 52 (1351): 368–369. 17 September 1881.