Crowdy, Rachel Eleanor, Dame, 1884-1964

Epithet: afterwards Thornhill DBE

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000750.0x00023f

Rachel Crowdy was born March 3, 1884, the daughter of James and Mary Crowdy. She attended Hyde Park New College and completed nurse's training at Guy's Hospital in London in 1908. In 1911 she joined the Voluntary Aid Detachments, a volunteer nursing unit attached to the Territorial Army. With her friend Katherine Furse, Rachel Crowdy set up first aid and home nursing classes throughout Britain.

During the First World War Crowdy continued to work with the VAD. She set up rest stations, established ambulance depots, hostels for nurses and relatives of the sick and wounded, and hospitals and sick bays where needed. In 1919 she became chief of the Social Questions and Opium Traffic Section at the League of Nations, the only woman to head a section at the League. She became well known for her inquiries into the traffic of women and children and into the opium trade.

During the 1930's Dame Crowdy's career as a "social worker" continued as she served on several commissions. From 1939 to 1946 she served as a regions' advisor to the British Ministry of Information. In 1939 she married Colonel Cudbert John Massey Thornhill. Dame Rachel Crowdy died October 10, 1964.

From the description of The Dame Rachael Crowdy collection. 1918-1959. (Wichita State University). WorldCat record id: 22230264