Adaline (Harkness) Crowther

Ancestors

Descendants

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Alexander Williams [send private message]

Biography

Adaline Harkness was born on 16th September 1914. She was the daughter of Gregor Harkness, who died in 1914, and and Isabella (White) Harkness. Being very young when her father died, she never knew her father. ^[1]

During the war she served with the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS). ^[1]

In 1943 Adaline Harkness married Denys Stoner Crowther, who was also in the Naval service.

Denys Crowther served in the RNVR (Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve) as a Lieutenant Commander, seeing active service. He commanded a C-class cruiser named HMS Capetown. He went to Columbo in Sri Lanka. ^[1]

Adeline and Denys had three children:

• Sheila Crowther, born in March 1944
• David Crowther, born in 1945, named after his grandfather David Stoner Crowther. ^[1]
• Shirley Crowther, born in 1953

After the war the family lived in an Elizabethan House named Hammonds Place, a Grade II Listed building in Burgess Hill, Sussex. ^[2] He bought and ran a farm in Plumpton. ^[1]

In 1952 they sold Hammonds Place and moved into the county hotel in Lindfield for a year. Their daughter Shirley Crowther was born there. ^[1]

In 1953 they bought Gratwicke Farm in Cowfold, Sussex, with Denys becoming a gentleman farmer. ^[3]. Just before they were due to move in, a huge barn caught fire and was destroyed. The children had an idyllic childhood growing up on the farm, in a beautiful house with "live-in staff". David Crowther recalls having "lots of fun driving tractors". The farm was largely dairy, but had beef cattle and arable as well. Denys did not personally manage the farm, but it was hard work finding the right people and making the farm pay in an era of fixed quotas. He also managed the family trusts. ^[1]

Adaline Harkness Crowther died on 31 December 1981.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6} recollection of David Crowther
2. ↑ Hammonds Place
3. ↑ Gratwicke Farm

• Family research