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Edna Annie Crichton (née Sturge) was born on 8 May 1876 at Barton St Mary, Gloucestershire,[1] a member of a family of Quakers that included her great-uncle Joseph Sturge, her great-aunt Sophia Sturge, her aunt Eliza Sturge and her elder sister Mary Sturge Gretton.[2] Her father was Joseph Marshall Sturge, a merchant in the corn trade, and her mother was Anne (Annie) Burke from a Montserrat family.[2][3] She was one of four children.[1]
Crichton was educated at Sidcot School, a Quaker School in Somerset, and, after leaving school, worked at the Passmore Edwards settlement (now the Mary Ward Centre) in Bloomsbury, London.[2][4] She married David Sprunt Crichton on 22 August 1901 at Charlbury, Oxfordshire, and the couple moved to York where David Crichton had joined the welfare staff at Rowntree confectionery manufacturers.[2][5] They had two children, a daughter, Vida, born in 1903 and a son, David, born in 1906.[6]
In the 1910s, she took on roles in public life in York, serving on the health insurance committee for six years and on the board of Poor Law guardians.[2][6] She was a prominent member of the non-partisan York Women Citizens' Association, which promoted the election of women to local office, and, in 1919, she stood and was elected for York City Council on a non-party basis with her interests being housing reform and improvements in health and education.[2][7]
In 1921, her husband, David, died.[8] Despite her bereavement, Edna Crichton continued with her Council work, sitting on committees for health, housing - which she chaired for twenty years - and education, while running a boarding house at her home.[9] As chair of the housing committee, she oversaw the clearing of slums and the building of 5,000 homes in York in the inter-war years.[10] In 1936, she was appointed a justice of the peace,[11]
On 10 November 1941, she became Lord Mayor of York, the first woman hold that position, and served as Lord Mayor between 1941 and 1942.[2][12] In the early hours of 29 April 1942, York was bombed by the Luftwaffe during the Baedeker raids suffering heavy damage and many casualties.[13] As Lord Mayor, she led the city through the aftermath, visiting hospitals and many of the bombed houses.[2]
In 1942 she was elected York’s first woman alderman, serving a further thirteen years.
When she retired from the city council in 1955 she was awarded the honorary freedom of the city.[14]
Edna Crichton died at Clifton, York, on 5 March 1970.
Citations
edit- ^ a b Rubinstein 2013, p. 5.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Reid 2020.
- ^ Rubinstein 2013, pp. 4–5.
- ^ Rubinstein 2013, pp. 5–6.
- ^ Rubinstein 2013, pp. 6, 8.
- ^ a b Rubinstein 2013, p. 9. Cite error: The named reference "FOOTNOTERubinstein20139" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ Rubinstein 2013, pp. 10–11.
- ^ Rubinstein 2013, p. 11.
- ^ Rubinstein 2013, pp. 14–15.
- ^ Rubinstein 2013, pp. 16–17.
- ^ "Honour for only woman Councillor". Leeds Mercury. 23 November 1936. Retrieved 20 September 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
Ten names have been added to the Commission of the Peace for the City of York. They are:— Mrs. Edna Annie Crichton, 30, Clifton. Mrs. Crichton was the first, and is the only, woman member of the City Council ...
- ^ Kightly & Semlyen 1980, p. 73.
- ^ Kightly & Semlyen 1980, pp. 73–75.
- ^ "First woman Lord Mayor shares honour with the Princess Royal". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 17 September 1955 – via British Newspaper Archive.
York's first woman Lord Mayor, Mrs. Edna Annie Crichton, was presented with the honorary Freedom of the City yesterday at a ceremony in the Assembly Rooms.
Sources
edit- Rubinstein, David (2013). Homage to Edna Annie Crichton : 1876-1970. Quacks Books. ISBN 978-1-904446-46-0.
- Reid, Ellie (9 April 2020). "Gretton [née Sturge; first married name Henderson], Mary Gertrude Sturge (1871–1961)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
- Kightly, Charles; Semlyn, Rachel (1980). Lords of the City : The Lord Mayors of York and their Mansion House. York City Council. ISBN 978-0-903281-01-0.
- Gore, Jan (2020). The terror raids of 1942: The Baedeker Blitz. Pen and Sword. ISBN 9781526745163.
Possible sources
edit- Lewis, Stephen. "York's blue plaques: Edna Annie Crichton." Press [York, England], 3 Mar. 2018. Gale OneFile: News, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A529599153/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=1a5eed55. Accessed 18 Sept. 2021.
- Bean, Dan. "Honour for first female Lord Mayor of York." Press [York, England], 23 June 2017. Gale OneFile: News, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A548349044/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=2ea5c738. Accessed 18 Sept. 2021.