Eva Crackles 1918-2007
A Passion for Botany
Florence Eva Crackles (known as Eva) was born in Hull in 1918. She graduated with a BSc in maths & chemistry in 1940, and went on to develop a joint interest in Ornithology and Botany. She joined the Hull Scientific & Field Naturalists Club in 1941, and subsequently the Yorkshire Naturalists Union in 1943, which allowed her to pursue her interests and meet other enthusiasts in the region. She went on many excursions with Tom Stainforth until his death in 1944. Stainforth's Herbarium is also in the museum collections.
By the 1950s Eva's interest in Botany had increased. The wartime bombing of Hull left many derelict sites where wildflowers could be collected. Many of the items collected by Eva in 1950s state the location of a bombed area in Hull. Eva was also a keen writer as well as a collector, and she wrote a column in the Hull Daily Mail called 'Crackles Country'.
Sharing the Knowledge
Eva enjoyed sharing her passion for Botany, and gave lectures at evening classes for the Workers Educational Association. Her teaching was supplemented by her research and publications. She was awarded a Masters from Hull University in 1978 for her work on Calamagrostis stricta and Calamagrostis canscens and their hybrids at Leven Canal.
In 1990 she published The Flora of the East Riding of Yorkshire, which was a culmination of four decades of collecting and research. Her training in maths and chemistry made all her work scientifically precise and detailed.
Eva also had interests beyond Botany. She was a keen researcher of family history, and published an account of her family history in the East Yorkshire Historian in 2000.
Recognition of her work
In 1991 Eva was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Hull University in recognition of her extensive contribution to botany and teaching. A year later she also received an MBE for her services to Botany and its conservation, and she was an active champion at public enquiries in protecting threatened sites in East Yorkshire.
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