Clare Spurgin

Frances Clare Skurray was born on 2 September 1897 in Abingdon, Berkshire, England. She was the eldest child of Thomas Skurray (1868–1938) and Mabel Edith Skurray (née Harris; 1871–1921). Her maternal grandfather had served as mayor of Abingdon. ==Career==

India In 1925, she married Captain Arthur Rushworth Spurgin, an Indian Army officer. They lived in India for the next seven years and had three children together. Using her earlier aborted studies in medicine, she established a hospital in Sialkot, Punjab, for the wives of Indian Army soldiers. For this, she was awarded the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal for Public Service in silver. She was widowed in May 1934, when her husband died from leukaemia. She would rise through the county's administration to become a member of the lord lieutenant's advisory committee (that selected new JPs), the county's police authority, and became chair of the Gloucestershire probation committee. Spurgin also was active at national and international levels. She was involved in the national Magistrates' Association and represented it at the third congress of the ''L'Association Internationale des Juges des Enfants'' (AIJE) in 1950. At the 1966 seventh congress of the AIJE, now renamed as the International Association of Youth Magistrates (IAYM), she was elected its president; she was the first British citizen, first woman, and first lay justice to be its president. As IAYM president, she travelled worldwide visiting and attempting to make improvements to youth court justices, institutions for young people, probation service providers, and to child welfare. She also co-founded the Commonwealth Magistrates' Association with Thomas Skyrme. In retirement, she was made honorary life president of the IAYM. She continued to travel and make advancements in international co-operation between youth justices and youth justice organisations. ==Personal life==

On 13 August 1925, she married Captain Arthur Rushworth Spurgin (1899–1934), an Indian Army officer who served in the 3rd Sikh Pioneers. Having suffered a stroke, Spurgin died at the North Cotswolds Hospital in Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, England, on 12 December 1986. ==Honours==

Spurgin received a number of national, academic and honorary awards during her lifetime. In the 1965 Queen's Birthday Honours, Spurgin was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in recognition of her service as chair of the Blockley Petty Sessional Division of Gloucestershire. She was awarded the Cross of Honour of the Order of Saint Raymond of Peñafort by the Spanish government "for services to international co-operation among magistrates and judges of juvenile courts". In 1984, she was elected an honorary fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford. ==Selected works==