{{Short description|Deputy director of Women's Royal Naval Service}} {{Infobox military person | honorific_prefix = | name = Edith Crowdy | honorific_suffix = CBE | image = The Women's Royal Naval Service on the Home Front, 1917-1918 Edith Crowdy, Deputy Director.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Edith Frances Crowdy | birth_date = {{birth date|1880|08|25|df=y}} | birth_place = 79 Victoria Road, Wandsworth, London, UK | death_date = {{Death date and age|1947|07|23|1880|08|25|df=y}} | death_place = Dorchester, Dorset, England, UK | allegiance = United Kingdom | branch = Women's Royal Naval Service | service_years = | service_years_label = | rank = Deputy Director }}
'''Edith Frances Crowdy''' CBE (25 August 1880 – 23 July 1947) was the deputy director of the Women's Royal Naval Service,<ref>[https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/121077-edith-frances-crowdy-womens-royal-naval-service/ Edith Frances Crowdy profile], greatwarforum.org. Accessed 6 October 2022.</ref> and served as the first general secretary of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.
She was born on 25 August 1880 at 79 Victoria Road, Wandsworth, London, one of the four daughters of solicitor James Crowdy and his wife, Mary Isabel Anne ({{nee}} Fuidge).<ref>{{Cite ODNB |url=http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/62129 | doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/62129| title=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography| year=2004}}</ref><ref>Who Was Who: CROWDY, Edith Frances, CBE 1919; 3rd d. of late James and Isabel Crowdy; unmarried; died 23 July 1947. Hon. Serving Sister Order of St John of Jerusalem, 1917. Education: Home. Career: VAD, 1912-17; Deputy Director, Women's Royal Naval Service, 1917-19; Secretary, Hellenic Travellers' Club, 1926-39. Recreation: Reading and music. Clubs: University Women's, Ex-Service Women's. Address: 100 Beaufort St, Chelsea, SW. Aled</ref><ref>[http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?uidh=000&rank=1&new=1&so=3&msT=1&gsln=Crowdy&MSAV=1&cp=0&cpxt=0&catBucket=rstp&gl=39&sbo=t&gsbco=Sweden&noredir=true UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970 Soldier, Veteran & Prisoner Rolls & Lists], ancestry.co.uk. Accessed 6 October 2022.</ref> Of her sisters, Dame Rachel Crowdy was Principal Commandant of Voluntary Aid Detachments in France and Belgium from 1914 to 1919, and Isabel Crowdy, OBE, was the Assistant Director Inspector of Training, Women's Royal Navy Service from 1918.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mason |first1=Ursula Stuart |title=Britannia's Daughters |date=2012 |publisher=Pen and Sword |location=Barnsley, UK |isbn=9781783032778 |at=c. 1, para. 34}}</ref> Her brother, James Fuidge Crowdy, MVO, was Assistant Secretary to the Governor General of Canada. Edith's remaining sister was Mary Crowdy, CBE.<ref>{{cite news |title=James F. Crowdy dies at hospital in his 58th year |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4547907/the_ottawa_journal/ |accessdate=4 February 2020 |work=The Ottawa Journal |date=30 April 1934 |location=Ottawa, Ontario |page=26}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Scouting|founders}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2016}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Crowdy, Edith}} Category:Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting Category:Scouting and Guiding in the United Kingdom Category:Scouting pioneers Category:1880 births Category:1947 deaths Category:Women's Royal Naval Service officers Category:Women's Royal Naval Service personnel of World War I Category:Commanders_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire