Mrs. Lizzie Crook was the housekeeper at Lallybroch.
Personal History
Mrs. Crook was a housemaid for Brian and Ellen Fraser, and eventually became the housekeeper. She continued on after the deaths of both Ellen and Brian, when the estate was run by their daughter Jenny and her husband, Ian Murray. She died a few days before the birth of the youngest of Jenny's children, Young Ian.[2]
Events of the Novels
Outlander
A few days after Maggie's birth Ian and Jamie are met by the Watch about midday as they make their way to the mill and Jamie is taken. Jenny leaves her two or three day old daughter with Mrs. Crook while she and Claire set off to rescue Jamie.
Dragonfly in Amber
Mrs. Crook is mentioned in passing as a busy member of the household.
Voyager
When Jamie Fraser returns to the manor after several days with no word, Jenny tells him that Mrs. Crook died the previous day. Jenny remarks that she died in her own bed, with the village priest, Father McMurtry, praying over her.[2]
Personality
Mrs. Crook was not an active player in the books, though in her limited appearances she was a capable woman, and beloved employee.
Physical Appearance
She is not described in detail, though in one scene she pokes "a long nose into the parlor".[1]
Name
- Lizzie is a diminutive of Elizabeth, from Ελισαβετ (Elisabet), the Greek form of the Hebrew name אֱלִישֶׁבַע (Elisheva) meaning "my God is an oath" or perhaps "my God is abundance".[3]
- Crook is from the Old Norse krókr meaning "crook", "bend", originally possibly bestowed on a cripple or hunchback or a devious schemer, but in early medieval England used as a personal name, borrowed into Middle English as a vocabulary word and applied as a metonymic occupational name for a maker, seller, or user of hooks or a topographic name for someone who lived by a bend in a river or road. In some instances the surname may have arisen as a habitational name from places in Cumbria and Durham named Crook from this word.[4]
Trivia
- Mrs. Crook's name mysteriously changes to Mrs. Coker between Outlander and Voyager, though they are the same person.[5]
TV Series
Actress Margaret Fraser portrays Mrs. Crook in the Starz Outlander television series.
Appearances
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Outlander, Chapter 27
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Voyager, chapter 5
- ↑ Behind the Name: Elizabeth - accessed 02 June 2016
- ↑ Ancestry: Crook - accessed 13 July 2016
- ↑ The Outlandish Companion, "Cast of Characters"