CRESWICK, ALICE ISHBEL HAY (1889-1973), Red Cross commandant and kindergarten
administrator, was born on 21 September 1889 at Aberdeen, Scotland, daughter of
William Reid Reid, advocate, and his wife Jeannie Georgina Farquharson, née Begg.
Alice was educated in private schools at Tonbridge, Kent, England, at Geneva,
Switzerland, and at Hanover, Germany. During the winter sports at Grindelwald,
Switzerland, she met Henry Forbes Creswick, son of Australian pastoralist
Alexander Creswick; Henry had read law at the University of Oxford. Forbidden to
wed until she was 21, she married him on 30 November 1910 at the Scottish National
Church, Chelsea, London.
View the full record at
Australian Dictionary of Biography Online
Alice Creswick (née Reid) is best known for her work in the Free Kindergarten Union (FKU) although she was also an important figure in the Australian Red Cross Society (ARCS) during World War 2. A woman of considerable energy and acumen, she developed a life-long interest in the area of early childhood development. 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, leaving large bequests to the organisations she supported in her lifetime: the FKU, the Australian Red Cross and the Anglican Church.
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30 November 1910
Married Henry Forbes
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1928 - 1938
President of the Lady Northcote Free Kindergarten
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1939
Foundation vice-president of the Australian Association of Pre-School Child Development (later Australian Pre-School Association)
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1939 - 1940
President of the Free Kindergarten Union
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1940 - 1946
Principal Commandant of Women Personnel for the Australian Red Cross Society
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1946 - April 1949
President of the Free Kindergarten Union
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1946 - 1949
Junior Vice Chairman of the Australian Red Cross Society
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1947
Gained State government help for the extension of buildings and facilities at the Kindergarten Training College, Kew
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1947
Appointed a dame of grace of the Order of St John
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1948
Represented the Australian Red Cross at the Stockholm conference
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1949
Visited pre-schools in England, France and Sweden
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April 1949
Appointed life vice-president of the Free Kindergarten Union
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1953
Established the Colombo Plan pre-school standing committee of the Australian Pre-School Association
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1954
Represented the Australian Red Cross at the Oslo conference
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1955
Founded the Alice Creswick scholarship fund (later named the Alice Creswick and Sheila Kinpton scholarship)
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1958
Appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire
View the full record at
Australian Women's Register