Crowdy, Rachel (1884–1964)

views updated

Crowdy, Rachel (1884–1964)

English social reformer. Name variations: Dame Rachel Eleanor Crowdy. Born in 1884; died 1964; educated at Hyde Park New College, London; trained as nurse at Guy's Hospital, 1908.

Joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD, 1911); was a lecturer and demonstrator at the National Health Society (1912–14), then worked with Katharine Furse to establish the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) during WWI; awarded DBE (1919), the same year she was appointed chief of Social Questions and Opium Traffic Section at the League of Nations; was stationed with the International Typhus Commission in Poland (1920–21), then pursued social work in many nations (1931–39); was regions' advisor to the Ministry of Information (1939–46).

More From encyclopedia.com