Alice Ishbel Hay Creswick (; 21 September 1889,
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
, Scotland – 24 October 1973,
Armadale, Victoria
Armadale is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 7 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Armadale recorded a population of 9,368 at the 2021 cens ...
, Australia) is best known for her work in the Free Kindergarten Union (FKU) and as an important figure in the Australian Red Cross Society (ARCS) during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
She was president of the committee of the Lady Northcote Free Kindergarten for ten years (1928–1938) and joined the executive of the Free Kindergarten Union (FKU), becoming president in 1939.
In 1940, she was 'headhunted' by the
Australian Red Cross Society, when they asked her to become its principal commandant. In this capacity, she travelled widely, both inspecting and establishing Red Cross services and activities.
She resigned from this position in 1946 and immediately resumed her presidency of the FKU, picking up where she left off as an energetic leader who tirelessly lobbied the government for greater support for pre-school training. Ill health forced her to resign in 1949, but she maintained her interest and activism in the area of early
childhood development.
She died in 1973, aged 84, leaving large bequests to the organisations she supported in her lifetime: the FKU, the
Australian Red Cross
The Australian Red Cross, formally the Australian Red Cross Society, is a humanitarian aid and community services charity in Australia. Tracing its history back to 1923 and being incorporated by royal charter in 1941, the Australian Red Cro ...
and the
Anglican Church
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...
.
References
Family
* 1910 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/216625691 30 Nov Marriage to HFC
* 1911 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/142937770 Jan last week Marriage to HFC
* http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/205591552 Daughter Moira Creswick
* 1935 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/86549592 Husband killed Henry Forbes, Four children Alec, Sheila, Moira, Archie
Free Kindergarten Union
* 1940 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/11302380
* 1940 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/204410396 P FKU
* 1947 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/206020489 Reelected P FKU
* 1949 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/43801723 P FKU, VP ARCS, VP AAPSCD
* 1949 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/206078370 Resignation as PFKU
;Scholarship sponsor
* 1944 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/206794565
Other references
Red Cross
;Personnel member
* 1939 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/206330673 Appointment
;Co-opted member of CC, member of CCEC
* 1939 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/205591552
;Chairman of Women's Personnel Committee
* 1940 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/46737400
;Principal Comandant
* 1940 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/40941246 Appointed PC 6 weeks ago
* 1940 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/186274902 Recently appointed PC
* 1940 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/186274942
* 1941 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/47321623
* 1942 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2604327
* 1943 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/78460589
* 1944 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/127050076
* 1944 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/78761363
* 1945 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/51761983
* 1946 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/22314555
* 1946 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/206107991
;Junior Vice Chairman
* 1946 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/22252615 Resignation of PC and election to VC of NC
* 1946 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/188723435 Former PC of Qld Div appointed to VC of NC
* 1946 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/96474209
* 1947 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/224899727
* 1947 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/51761983
Other references
External links
Australian Dictionary of Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Creswick, Alice Ishbel Hay
1889 births
1973 deaths
Australian Anglicans
Australian educational theorists
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
People from Aberdeen
People from Victoria (state)
Dames of the Order of St John
20th-century Australian philanthropists
20th-century Australian women