He was born at Great Waldingfield in Suffolk, second son of Thomas Crooke, rector of the parish and later reader at Gray"s Inn. Samuel seems to have been a family name on his mother"s side. His father was a prominent member of the "godly elite", whose Calvinist views caused the Church authorities to regard him with some suspicion, although his position at Gray"s Inn protected him from any serious harm.
Samuel clearly inherited his father"s religious views.
Samuel went to the Merchant Taylors" School, Northwood. He entered the University of Cambridge as a scholar of Pembroke Hall, and was elected a fellow, but the election was disallowed. Soon afterwards he became a fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
He was appointed reader in the public schools, and in accordance with college statutes took holy orders in 1601.
He was a fine linguist, who could speak French, Italian and Spanish and read Hebrew and Arabic. In 1602 he was presented to the living of Wrington, Somerset: he was a fine preacher, and was said to be the first clergyman in the locality who brought "cr to religion".
In 1642 when the House of Commons voted to set up an assembly of clergymen to reform the Church, Samuel was chosen as one of the representatives for Somerset, but never actually took his seat in the assembly. In 1643 when King Charles I took control of Somerset, Samuel was considered influential enough to be singled out as a man whose recantation would be valuable.
He was persuaded, presumably under some pressure, to sign articles expressing his abhorrence for any alteration to the Established Church.
His recantation was greeted with joy by Royalists and fury by reformers, but was almost certainly not sincere, since he returned to the cause of reformation as soon as it was politically safe to do southern He died at the end of 1649, aged almost 75: his funeral is said to have drawn a great crowd from all classes of life. He wrote a number of tracts and Latin verses.
