Isabel Crowdy

{{Short description|Social reformer and Women's Royal Naval Service member}} thumb|Isabel Crowdy in 1917 '''Isabel Crowdy''' OBE (1878<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.myheritage.nl/names/isabel_crowdy|work=birth documents|via=myheritage.nl|title=Isabel Crowdy}}</ref> - 25 July 1941<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17767009|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=3 October 1941|page=3|title=Death of miss I Crowdy|via=Trove}}</ref>) was an English Women's Royal Naval Service member and social reformer. The inaugural secretary of the Society for the Overseas Settlement of British Women, she campaigned for the ongoing employment of women who had served in World War I and worked to make agricultural work and countryside holidays respected and accessible.

== Early life == She was the daughter of solicitor James Crowdy and his wife Mary, ''née'' Fuidge, one of five children including Edith Crowdy and Rachel Crowdy, both of whom also served in WWI and were interested in social reform. One of Isabel's areas of interest was the value of women's handicrafts in rural areas. She also served as Secretary of the Army and Navy Male Nurses’ Co-operative.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=White |first=Bonnie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kpSNDwAAQBAJ&dq=isabel+crowdy&pg=PA89 |title=The Society for the Oversea Settlement of British Women, 1919-1964 |date=2019-03-18 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-030-13348-1 |pages=89–90 |language=en}}</ref>

== World War I == During World War I, she supported the Voluntary Aid Detachment, where her sister Rachel was a member, along with her friend Katharine Furse.<ref name=":0" /> She was awarded the OBE on 23 June 1918 for her work as Commandant of Voluntary Aid Detachment Area for the British Red Cross Commission in France.

She then transferred to the Women's Royal Naval Service, where her sister Edith was deputy director, and was appointed assistant director of Inspection and Training on 9 March 1918.<ref>{{Cite web |title=(1839) - Navy lists > Monthly > 1919 > September - British Military lists - National Library of Scotland |url=https://digital.nls.uk/british-military-lists/archive/92545222?mode=transcription |access-date=2024-03-14 |website=digital.nls.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=THE WOMEN'S ROYAL NAVAL SERVICE ON THE HOME FRONT, 1917-1918 |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205350867 |access-date=2024-03-14 |website=Imperial War Museums |language=en}}</ref>

She held an administrative role in the Association of Wrens, a society that held reunions for WRNS members, in 1921.<ref>Clark, Jane (2020) '[https://pure.manchester.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/182559648/FULL_TEXT.PDF Gender, Identity and the Legacy of the First World War: an analysis of the female Old Comrades Associations as emotional communities, 1920 – 1945]' (PhD thesis), p. 106.</ref>

== Later career and activism == In 1920, Isabel was appointed General Secretary of the newly formed Society for the Overseas Settlement of British Women, where she became a member of the Council in 1922.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mason |first=Ursula Stuart |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8zCUBQAAQBAJ&dq=isabel+crowdy&pg=PA32 |title=Britannia's Daughters |date=2012-06-19 |publisher=Pen and Sword |isbn=978-1-84884-678-4 |pages=32 |language=en}}</ref> Collaborating with the Women's Institute, she undertook publicity tours of rural areas, promoting agricultural work as beneficial and patriotic for women. The aim was to provide ongoing employment for women who had served during the war.<ref name=":0" />

In the early 1930s she spent some time in Australia on the staff of Air Vice-Marshal Sir Philip Game, Governor of New South Wales,<ref>{{cite news |date=30 April 1934 |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 |location=Ottawa, Ontario |page=26}}</ref> where she was estimated 'probably the most popular private secretary in Government House annals.'<ref>{{Cite news |date=7 Feb 1934 |title=A Woman's Letter |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-607320296/view?sectionId=nla.obj-612379108&partId=nla.obj-607325692#page/n35/mode/1up |work=The Bulletin |pages=36}}</ref> She was then appointed information officer to the Orient Line in 1934.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Isabel Crowdy - National Portrait Gallery |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp145248/isabel-crowdy |access-date=2024-03-14 |website=www.npg.org.uk |language=en}}</ref>

During World War II, she worked as secretary to the Children's Country Holiday Fund, organising country holidays for city children.<ref>{{Cite ODNB |last=Thomas |first=Lesley |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/63368 |title=Drummond, Dame (Edith) Margaret (1917–1987), director of the Women's Royal Naval Service |date=2004-09-23 |series=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/63368 }}</ref>

==Death==

She died in London, 25 July 1941.<ref> {{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17767009 |title=Death of Miss I. Crowdy |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=32,376 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=3 October 1941 |accessdate=15 March 2024 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}} <references responsive="1"></references>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crowdy, Isabel}} Category:1878 births Category:1941 deaths Category:Women's Royal Naval Service officers Category:Women's Royal Naval Service personnel of World War I Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire