Clare Spurgin

Frances Clare Spurgin, ( Skurray; 2 September 1897 – 12 December 1986) was a British lay magistrate and youth justice activist. She was active in Gloucestershire, England and internationally, and served as president of the International Association of Youth Magistrates (IAYM). She had "gained an international reputation for her work for young offenders".

Early life and education 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.

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