Sidney Crawford (4 November 1885 – 14 May 1968) was a South Australian businessman born in Victoria.
History
Edward James Frederick Crawford (c. 1808 – 15 May 1880), at one time a prosperous brewer associated with the
Hindmarsh Brewery
The Hindmarsh Brewery was a brewery founded 1844 in Hindmarsh, in the then colony of South Australia, by E. J. F. "Fred" Crawford. Crawford lost possession of the business in 1859, then re-established it on a different site before becoming bankru ...
. He was also a serious trader in real estate, but went bankrupt in the recession that accompanied the drought of 1864–1867 and in 1868 moved with his wife, three sons and a daughter to Victoria, out of reach of his creditors.
His eldest son James John Crawford (7 February 1848 – 17 October 1926) had a privileged childhood in Adelaide, living in North Adelaide and educated at
St. Peter's College St, St. or Saint Peter's College may refer to:
Places of education sorted by location Australia
*St Peter's Catholic College, Tuggerah, New South Wales
* St Peter's College, Adelaide, South Australia
* St Peters Lutheran College, Brisbane, Queensl ...
. An accountant, he moved to
Whanganui
Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...
, New Zealand, where he married, then to
Warrnambool and
Ararat where, according to at least one reference he had a penurious existence.
[Susan Marsden, 'Crawford, Sidney (1885–1968)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/crawford-sidney-9859/text17443, published first in hardcopy 1993, accessed online 12 February 2018.]
He then settled in
Koroit, Victoria
Koroit is a small rural town in western Victoria, Australia a few kilometres north of the Princes Highway, north-west of Warrnambool and west of Melbourne. It is in the Shire of Moyne local government area located amidst rolling green past ...
, serving as secretary of the local Racing Club, in 1896 part-owner of the ''
Koroit Sentinel'' (previously that paper's reporter and sub-editor), longtime secretary of the Mechanics' Institute, from 1909 or earlier served as Commonwealth Electoral Registrar for the region, appointed JP in 1914. He was organist for the town's Church of England for 35 years.
Sidney Crawford, fourth son of James John Crawford, was born in
Warrnambool, Victoria, attended Koroit School, and around 1900 won a scholarship to Surrey College on Union Road,
Surrey Hills, some 300 km away, near Melbourne.
[
He found employment with the E S & A bank and within a few years was manager of their Elsternwick, Victoria branch.
By 1914 he had a residence in ]Murrumbeena
Murrumbeena is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 13 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Glen Eira local government area. Murrumbeena recorded a population of 9,996 at the 2021 cen ...
.
In 1917 he enlisted with the First AIF
The First Australian Imperial Force (1st AIF) was the main expeditionary force of the Australian Army during the First World War. It was formed as the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) following Britain's declaration of war on Germany on 15 Aug ...
, following his brother into Motor Transport, and served in France with the 4th Australian Motor Transport Company and demobbed in 1919, when he accepted a position as manager of Tarrant Motors, at that time Melbourne's largest new car retailer.
In 1922 he moved to Adelaide, and with L. M. Anderson and F. R. Burden founded a Fiat
Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...
agency. He purchased a home in Brighton, South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
, where he lived until his death.
In 1926 he founded Adelaide Car Service Limited with a capitalisation of £50,000 in £1 shares for he purpose of taking over Adelaide Motors Limited and All-British Motor House Limited, and had the agency for Austin
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
, Albion
Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than 'Britain' today. The name for Scot ...
and Maudslay
Henry Maudslay (#Pronunciation and spelling, pronunciation and spelling) (22 August 1771 – 14 February 1831) was an English machine tool innovator, tool and die maker, and inventor. He is considered a founding father of machine tool techno ...
vehicles.
In 1927 Adelaide Motors opened a new showroom and workshop at 67–69 Franklin Street.
He was in 1934 founder and managing director of Commercial Motor Vehicles Ltd. in Flinders Street. Vehicles handled included Leyland, Diamond T and REO.
St Jude's Church, Brighton
Crawford was an adherent of the Church of England and a longtime worshipper at St Jude's Church, Brighton
St Jude's Church, Brighton is an Anglican church on Brighton Road, Brighton, South Australia.
History
The land for the church was purchased from John Alexander Voules Brown. The foundation stone was laid on 16 December 1854 by Lady Fox Young ...
. The church building was considerably damaged in the Adelaide earthquake of 1 March 1954, and plans were made to have it demolished and replaced with something more modern. This was strongly resisted by Crawford, who found numerous allies in his determination to save the 100-year-old building.
He threatened (in the nicest possible way) to go to the State's Supreme Court if necessary to avert its destruction. This, in fact, did occur, and the Supreme Court found for its preservation.[
]
Other activities
*He was chairman of the motor section of the Association of British Manufacturers
*In 1928 he was appointed to the (SA Government) Motor Transport Control Board
*He was a member of the council of the Taxpayers' Association of South Australia from 1929 to 1941.
*He was in 1929 founding chairman of the Junior Legacy Committee.
*In 1930 he was appointed a Harbors Board Commissioner, still active on the committee 20 years later, and chairman from 1946.
*He was a board member of the South Australian branch of the Economic Society
*He appeared on various scientific and technical boards and on occasion acted as host to visiting academics.
*He was a founding member of the think-tank Common Cause
Common Cause is a watchdog group based in Washington, D.C., with chapters in 35 states. It was founded in 1970 by John W. Gardner, a Republican, who was the former Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare in the administration of President L ...
.
*He regularly contributed articulate and thoughtful essays to the newspapers on topics as diverse as transport, employment and economics, to divorce and an obituary for his friend, the economist Professor L. F. Giblin.
*He was a director of Howard Frederick Hobbs' Hobbs Gearless Drive Limited
*He was the author of ''Hauling for Profit'', foreword by W. G. T. Goodman
Sir William George Toop Goodman KBE MICE MIEE MIEAust (14 March 1872 – 4 February 1961), was an engineer and administrator who supervised the installation of New Zealand's first electric tramway and went on to oversee the foundation and gro ...
.
*Board member War Workers Housing Trust (that put hostel for 200 women workers of Dr. L. J. Dunstone's property at Woodville) and the associated Commonwealth Housing Trust.
*He was an executive officer with the Commercial Finance Co., Ltd., which specialised in financing motor vehicle purchases.
*He was a member of the Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron.
*In 1947 he founded the C.M.V. Foundation, which supported the kindergarten movement and public libraries. The Crawford Room of the Mortlock Wing of the State Library was named in his honour.
Family
Edward James Frederick Crawford (7 December 1809 – 15 May 1880) Adelaide brewer married (1) Mary Ann Scott (2) Frances Mitchell ( – 1 April 1877) in Sydney on 31 July 1841.
*James John Crawford (7 February 1848 – 17 October 1926) married Ruth Harding (1859 – 17 February 1946) of Wanganui, New Zealand, on 15 November 1879? 25 November 1880?. They lived Wanganui, then Commercial Road, Koroit, Victoria
Koroit is a small rural town in western Victoria, Australia a few kilometres north of the Princes Highway, north-west of Warrnambool and west of Melbourne. It is in the Shire of Moyne local government area located amidst rolling green past ...
, then Brighton, South Australia. In 1896 he wrote a prize-winning story for ''Melbourne Punch
''Melbourne Punch'' (from 1900, simply titled ''Punch'') was an Australian illustrated magazine founded by Edgar Ray and Frederick Sinnett, and published from August 1855 to December 1925. The magazine was modelled closely on ''Punch'' of Londo ...
''. Both James and Ruth died in Brighton, South Australia. Their seven sons were:
:*Edward James Frederick Crawford (c. 1881? – ) married Margaret Elizabeth Gray of Horsham, Victoria
Horsham () is a regional city in the Wimmera region of western Victoria, Australia. Located on a bend in the Wimmera River, Horsham is approximately northwest of the state capital Melbourne. As of the 2021 Census, Horsham had a population of 2 ...
on 30 May 1907. Named identically to his grandfather, he was bank manager with the National Bank at Koroit, Angaston, Eudunda, Strathalbyn, Wagga Wagga, Albury Bendigo and Prahran, playing organ at several of the earlier towns' Congregational churches. Not to be confused with a contemporary, related, identically named Melbourne architect.
:*Lindsay Tremlett Crawford (27 April 1882 – 2 December 1973) married Eugenie Laugier on 15 April 1911, lived in Tocumwal, New South Wales
:*George Crawford (c. 1884? – ) living at 90 Warrigal Road, Surrey Hills in 1951.
:*Sidney Crawford (4 November 1885 – 14 May 1968) married Elsie Mary Allen on 10 September 1920. Their children included:
::*James Allen "Jim" Crawford (1922–1999) married Josephine Margaret Bond (1925– ) of Clare on 30 November 1946. Jim succeeded his father as managing director of the conglomerate of companies,[ and in philanthropic work. He was a member of the Libraries Board of South Australia from 1972 and was chairman from 1977 to 1987. The Jim Crawford Award for librarianship commemorates his work.
::*Frances Mary Crawford (1923– )
::*Diana Frances Mary Crawford (1923– ) married Thomas William Whitton of Sydney in 1950
::*Jocelyn Elizabeth Crawford (1924–1988)
:*Rev. Norman Crawford (died 1968?), psychologist and curate of Koroit was ordained an Anglican priest in 1915. He served at Ouyen, ]Dimboola
Dimboola is a town in the Shire of Hindmarsh in the Wimmera region of western Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 334 kilometres north-west of Melbourne.
History
Situated on the Wimmera River, Dimboola was previously known as 'Nine Creek ...
, Sea Lake
Sea Lake is a town in the Mallee district of north-west Victoria, Australia and is situated on the southern shores of Lake Tyrrell. The town is located on the Calder Highway, north-west of Melbourne, and west of Swan Hill. Sea Lake is in the ...
, Plympton and at Glenelg. He campaigned against flogging and capital punishment; a Howard League member noted for his opposition to the hanging
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging i ...
of Max Stuart. He wrote an ancillary verse to the National Anthem
A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...
.
:*Arthur Crawford (c. May 1893 – ) bank clerk, served in France with the Motor Transport Service; married Estella Helena Mitchell, daughter of Lt.-Col. C. Ashmore Mitchell VD (1862–1941). Arthur was still alive 1946.
:*Francis "Doc" Crawford (c. March 1895 – 30 August 1913)
They had a home at 22 Seaview Terrace, Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
.
For further information see Hindmarsh Brewery#Crawford family.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crawford, Sidney
1885 births
1968 deaths
Australian company founders
Australian motor vehicle dealers
People from Warrnambool
Businesspeople from Adelaide
20th-century Australian businesspeople