Item CRI/6 - Transcript of a speech

Edna Annie Crichton was Lord Mayor of York from 1941 to 1942, the first woman to hold that position.

Crichton was born in Gloucester on 8 May 1876. Her father, Joseph Marshall Sturge JP was a mechant, her mother was Anne (Annie) Burke, and her sister was Mary Sturge Gretton, historian. Crichton attended Sidcot School and worked on the Passmore Edwards settlement in Bloomsbury, London. In the early 1910s, she took on a role in York, serving on the national health insurance committee and on the board of guardians for the city.

In 1919, Crichton was elected to City of York Council, a position she would go on to hold for 23 years. As lord mayor, she led the city through the Baedeker raid in 1942. She spent her time visiting hospitals and many of the bombed houses.

Crichton was also the first female Alderman in York, a position she took on in 1942 and she held for 13 years, concerning herself with social interests such as health, housing and education, sitting on committees for each. She lead initiatives on the housing front, establishing a committee on housing and ensured construction of new houses and removal of dilapidated ones. In 1955, on her retirement, she became the second woman to receive the Freedom of the City of York.

She married David Sprunt Crichton on 22 August 1901 and that had two children together. After retirement in 1955, she continued to live in York until her death at Clifton on 5 March 1970.