Brigadier Henry Alastair Fergusson Crewdson T.D
1897 – 1987
Brigadier Crewdson was educated at Harrow and Oxford and was then articled to his father, who was also a solicitor. In 1930 he joined Waterhouse Co. in London and remained there apart for two years in the war until his retirement in 1969.
In 1916 he joined the Coldstream Guards and served in France and Flanders. He was probably lucky to be twice wounded which took him away from the front line. In 1920 he transferred to The Territorial Army (8th Battalion Sherwood Foresters and he assumed command of The Battalion in 1937. He was appointed Brigadier in 1939. He served in France and was evacuated via Dunkirk in 1940. 1940 – 42 he was appointed Sub-area Commander for Lancaster and Barrow with headquarters in Kendal, Westmorland. When the threat of invasion lessened the sub area was closed and he decided to return to the firm in London where there was a shortage of trained staff.
He was a great lover of music and improvised well on the piano. In 1930 the position of clerk to The Worshipful Company of Musicians became vacant he was proposed and accepted and served them well until 1967. He served as master for 1962/63 and also wrote a history of the company,
In 1941 Brigadier Crewdson married Edith Churton She was the niece of the Reverend and Mrs Izard and already knew Slindon well. In 1970 they moved to Church House. For some years he was warden for The National Trust.
Edie was an accomplished cellist and many Slindonians remember with pleasure their musical evenings. Alastair was a great reader of history and biography. He did not own a television until 1978 His other great interest was travelling and he managed a holiday abroad every year until 1982. In 1985 he moved to Goudhurst to the home of his daughter.
Alastair gave much to the village. He was a man of great common sense with a delightful sense of humour. Sadly increasing deafness reduced his capacity to participate and he became very lonely after Edie’s sudden death.
He was a big man in every sense of the word