![Dame Rachel Crowdy, the Principal Commander of the VADs (Art](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Dame_Rachel_Crowdy%2C_the_Principal_Commander_of_the_VADs_%28Art._IWM_ART_3205%29_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Dame Rachel Eleanor Crowdy, Mrs Thornhill,
DBE (3 March 1884,
Paddington
Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...
– 10 October 1964,
Outwood,
Surrey) was an English nurse and social reformer.
[Alice Prochaska]
‘Crowdy, Dame Rachel Eleanor (1884–1964)’
rev. ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'', Oxford University Press, 2004 ;online edn, Oct 2008, accessed 7 Nov 2010 She was Principal Commandant of
Voluntary Aid Detachments in France and Belgium from 1914 to 1919 and Chief of the Department of Opium Traffic and Social Issues Section of the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
from 1919 to 1931.
['Dame Rachel Crowdy', '']The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'', 12 October 1964, pg. 12 She was an active member of the British National Committee for the Suppression of the White Slave Trade. She was made an honorary
Doctor of Laws
A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor ...
in 1927.
Life
A daughter of James Crowdy, a solicitor from Kensington, and Mary Isabel Anne ( Fuidge), Rachel Crowdy trained as a nurse at
Guy's Hospital
Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. ...
. She met
Katharine Furse in 1911, volunteering to serve as a
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...
nurse in case of invasion. At the outset of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Furse and Crowdy travelled abroad to discover what was being done for the wounded, their investigation resulting in the establishment of rest stations. Crowdy was appointed Principal Commandant of
V.A.D.s in 1914. She was named
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1919.
[
One of her sisters, ]Edith
Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English words ēad, meaning 'riches or blessed', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian languages and Dutch. Its French form is Édith. Contractions and var ...
, CBE, was the Deputy Director of the Women's Royal Naval Service
The Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS; popularly and officially known as the Wrens) was the women's branch of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. First formed in 1917 for the First World War, it was disbanded in 1919, then revived in 1939 at the ...
from 1917 to 1919, while another sister, Isabel Crowdy, OBE, was the Assistant Director Inspector of Training for the same organisation. A third sister, Mary, was also awarded the CBE. Her brother was James Fuidge Crowdy, MVO.
From 1919 to 1931, Rachel Crowdy was Head of the Social Questions and Opium Traffic Section of the League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
, making her the only woman to be head of an administrative section of the League of Nations.[
In 1920-21, she accompanied the International Typhus Commission to Poland at the height of the post-war ]epidemic
An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time.
Epidemics of infectious ...
there. On her retirement from the League, she was guest of honour at a dinner for six hundred women at the Café Royal
A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-caf ...
.[
In 1931, she was a member of the British delegation to the ]Institute of Pacific Relations
The Institute of Pacific Relations (IPR) was an international NGO established in 1925 to provide a forum for discussion of problems and relations between nations of the Pacific Rim. The International Secretariat, the center of most IPR activity o ...
conference at Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
.[ Also in 1931, it was noted in the press that she had criticised the USA for allowing eleven states to retain the legal age of marriage for girls at 12 years.] She sat on the 1935-36 Royal Commission on the Private Manufacture of Armaments, visited Valencia and Madrid during the Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...
with the Parliamentary Commission in 1937, and sat on the 1938-39 Royal Commission on the West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
.[
During World War II she acted as Regions Advisor to the Ministry of Information, reporting on bomb damage in British cities.
]
Marriage
In 1939, Crowdy married Colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...
Cudbert John Massy Thornhill, CMG, DSO (born 4 October 1883 – died 12 August 1952), a British officer of the Indian Army and of The Secret Intelligence Service (MI-6).
Death
Dame Rachel Crowdy, Mrs Thornhill, died at her home in Outwood, Surrey on 10 October 1964, aged 80.
Works
*The League of Nations: Its Social and Humanitarian Work, The American Journal of Nursing, Vol. 28, No. 4 (April 1928)
References
External links
Crowdy-Thornhill papers
University of Michigan archives
Info re work at League of Nations
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crowdy, Rachel
1884 births
1964 deaths
British activists
British women activists
British humanitarians
British social reformers
Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
League of Nations
People from Tandridge (district)
Place of birth missing